u 


3  1822  01230  8722 


THE  WORKS  OF  ANATOLE  FRANCE 
IN  AN  ENGLISH  TRANSLATION 
EDITED    BY     FREDERIC     CHAPMAN 

THE    AMETHYST    RING 


,w/^ 


THE    AMETHYST    RING 
BY    ANATOLE    FKANCE 

A  TRANSLATION  BY 
"l  B.      DRILLIEN 


LONDON  :    JOHN   I  ANE,  THE   BODLEY   HEAD 
NEW  YORK  :    JOHN  LANE  COMPANY  MCMXIX 


PRINTED    BY    WILLIAM    BKliNDON    ASO    SON,    LTD.,    PLYMOUTH,    ENGLAND 


THE   AMETHYST    RING 


THE   AMETHYST    RING 

CHAPTER  I 

JRUE  to  her  word,  Madame  Bergeret 
quitted  the  conjugal  roof  and  be- 
took herself  to  the  house  of  her 
mother,  the  widow  Pouilly. 

As  the  time  for  her  departure 
drew  near,  she  had  half  a  mind  not  to  go,  and  with 
a  little  coaxing  would  have  consented  to  forget  the 
past  and  resume  the  old  life  with  her  husband,  at 
the  same  time  vaguely  despising  M.  Bergeret  as  the 
injured  party. 

She  was  quite  ready  to  forgive  and  forget,  but 
the  unbending  esteem  in  which  she  was  held  by  the 
circle  in  which  she  moved  did  not  allow  of  such  a 
course.  Madame  Dellion  had  made  it  clear  to  her 
that  any  such  weakness  on  her  part  would  be  judged 
unfavourably;  all  the  drawing-rooms  in  the  place 
were  unanimous  upon  that  score.  There  was  but 
one  opinion  among  the  tradespeople:  Madame 
Bergeret  must  return  to  her  mother.  In  this  way  did 
they  uphold  the  proprieties  and,  at  the  same  time, 

3 


4  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

rid  themselves  of  a  thoughtless,  common,  com- 
promising person,  whose  vulgarity  was  apparent 
even  to  the  vulgar,  and  who  was  a  burden  on 
everybody  about  her.  They  made  her  believe  there 
was  something  heroic  in  her  conduct. 

"  I  have  the  greatest  admiration  for  you,  my 
child,"  said  old  Madame  Dutilleul  from  the  depths 
of  her  easy  chair,  she  who  had  survived  four  hus- 
bands, and  was  a  truly  terrible  v\'oman.  People 
suspected  her  of  everything,  except  of  ever  having 
loved,  and  in  her  old  age  she  was  honoured  and  re- 
spected by  all. 

Madame  Bergeret  was  delighted  at  having  in- 
spired sympathy  in  Madame  Dellion  and  admira- 
tion in  Madame  Dutilleul,  and  still  she  could  not 
finally  make  up  her  mind  to  go,  for  she  was  of  a 
homely  disposition  and  accustomed  to  regular  habits 
and  quite  content  to  live  on  in  idleness  and  deceit. 
Having  grasped  this  fact,  M.  Bergeret  redoubled  his 
efforts  to  ensure  his  deliverance.  He  stoutly  upheld 
Marie,  the  servant,  who  kept  every  one  in  the 
house  in  a  state  of  wretchedness  and  trepidation, 
was  suspected  of  harbouring  thieves  and  cut-throats 
in  her  kitchen,  and  only  brought  herself  into  promi- 
nence by  the  catastrophes  she  caused. 

Four  days  before  the  time  appointed  for 
Madame  Bergeret's  departure,  this  girl,  who  was 
drunk  as  usual,  upset  a  lighted  lamp  in  her  mistress's 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  5 

room  and  set  fire  to  the  blue  chintz  bed-curtains. 
Madame  Bergeret  was  spending  the  day  with  her 
friend,  Madame  Lacarelle.  She  returned  and,  amid 
the  dreadful  stillness  of  the  house,  beheld  on  enter- 
ing her  room  the  evidences  of  the  disaster.  She 
called  and  called  in  vain  for  her  stony-hearted  hus- 
band and  her  besotted  maid,  then  stood  gazing  at 
the  smoke-blackened  ceiling  and  the  dismal  ravages 
of  the  fire.  This  commonplace  accident  assumed  in 
her  eyes  a  mystic  significance  that  frightened  her. 
But  presently  as  the  candle  began  to  flicker  she  lay 
down,  tired  out  and  very  cold,  upon  her  bed  under 
the  skeleton  of  the  charred  canopy  whose  black 
shreds  fluttered  like  the  wings  of  a  bat.  The  next 
morning,  on  waking,  she  wept  for  her  blue  curtains, 
the  souvenir  and  symbol  of  her  youth  ;  bare-footed, 
with  dishevelled  hair,  smothered  with  blacks  and 
clad  only  in  her  nightdress,  she  ran  desperately  about 
the  rooms,  crying  and  moaning.  M.  Bergeret  took 
no  notice  of  her  ;  for  him  she  had  ceased  to  exist. 

That  evening,  with  the  help  of  the  girl  Marie, 
she  drew  her  bed  into  the  middle  of  the  dreary 
rocm.  But  now  she  realized  that  this  room  could 
never  again  be  a  resting-place  for  her,  and  that  she 
must  leave  the  home  where  for  fifteen  years  she 
had  fulfilled  the  duties  of  daily  life. 

Moreover,  the  ingenious  Bergeret,  having  taken 
rooms  for  his  daughter  Pauline  and  himself  in  a 


6  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

little  house  in  the  Place  Saint-Exupere,  was  bus^ 
moving  out  and  moving  in. 

He  went  backwards  and  forwards  ceaselessly 
between  the  two  houses,  keeping  close  to  the  walls, 
and  trotting  along  with  the  agility  of  a  mouse 
suddenly  unearthed  in  a  heap  of  debris.  His  heart 
was  glad  within  him,  but  he  concealed  his  joy,  for 
he  was  a  prudent  man. 

Having  been  told  that,  at  an  early  date,  she  must 
hand  over  the  keys  of  the  house  to  the  landlord, 
Madame  Bergeret  in  like  manner  set  about  de- 
spatching her  furniture  to  her  mother,  who  lived  in 
a  maisonnette  on  the  ramparts  of  a  little  northern 
town.  She  made  bundles  of  clothes  and  of  linen, 
pushed  the  furniture  about,  gave  orders  to  the  men, 
sneezed  in  the  dusty  atmosphere,  and  wrote  out 
labels  addressed  to  "  Madame  Veuve  Pouilly." 

From  her  labours  Madame  Bergeret  derived  moral 
assistance,  for  it  is  good  for  mankind  to  work.  It 
takes  a  man's  mind  off  his  own  life  and  turns  him 
away  from  dreadful  self-examination ;  it  keeps 
him  from  that  which  makes  soHtude  unbearable, 
the  contemplation  of  that  other  being,  his  real  self. 
It  is  the  sovereign  remedy  for  moral  and  aesthetic 
obsessions.  Work  is  also  excellent,  in  that  it  panders 
to  our  vanity,  hides  from  us  our  impotence,  and 
flatters  us  with  the  hope  of  something  good  to  come. 
We  imagine  that  it  enables  us  to  steal  a  march  on 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  7 

Fate.  Failing  to  realize  the  necessary  relation 
between  individual  endeavour  and  the  mechanism  of 
the  universe,  we  fondly  imagine  that  our  effortt  are 
directed  to  our  own  advantage  against  the  rest  of 
the  machine.  Work  gives  us  illusory  determination, 
strength  and  independence,  and  makes  us  as  gods  in 
our  own  eyes.  We  appear  to  ourselves  as  so  many 
heroes,  genii,  demons,  demiurges,  gods — yes,  as  God 
Himself.  And,  in  fact,  man  has  always  conceived  of 
God  as  a  worker.  Thus  it  was  that  the  removal  re- 
stored Madame  Bergeret's  natural  gaiety  and  the 
joyous  energy  of  her  physical  strength.  She  sang 
songs  as  she  tied  up  parcels  ;  the  rapid  flow  of 
blood  in  her  veins  made  her  content,  and  she  looked 
farward  to  a  happy  future. 

She  painted  in  glowing  colours  her  life  in  the  little 
Flemish  town  where  she  would  live  with  her  mother 
and  her  two  younger  daughters.  There  she  hoped 
to  grow  young  again,  to  be  brilliant  and  admired,  to 
have  attention  offered  her,  and  to  find  sympathy. 
Who  could  say  whether,  once  the  decree  nisi  was 
granted  in  her  favour,  a  second  and  wealthy  marriage 
were  not  awaiting  her  in  her  native  town  ?  Was  it 
not  quite  possible  that  she  might  marry  a  good- 
tempered,  sensible  man,  a  country  gentlem.an,  an 
agriculturist  or  a  Government  official,  somebody 
quite  different  from  M.  Bergeret  ? 

The  packing-up  also  afforded  her  peculiar  satis- 


8  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

faction,  for  from  it  she  derived  some  solid  ad- 
vantages in  the  way  of  gain.  Not  satisfied  with  the 
appropriation  of  what  she  had  brought  as  her 
marriage  portion,  and  a  large  share  of  the  common 
property,  she  heaped  into  her  trunks  things  which 
she  ought  in  ordinary  fairness  to  have  left  to  others. 
In  this  way  she  packed  among  her  underclothes 
a  silver  cup  which  had  belonged  to  M.  Bergeret's 
maternal  grandmother.  Again,  she  added  to  her 
own  jewels  which,  be  it  said,  were  of  no  great  value, 
the  watch  and  chain  of  M.  Bergeret's  father,  a 
professor  at  the  University,  who,  having  refused  in 
1852  to  swear  fidelity  to  the  Empire,  had  died  in 
1873,  poor  and  forgotten. 

Madame  Bergeret  interrupted  her  packing  only 
to  go  and  pay  her  farewell  calls,  visits  both  sad  and 
triumphant.  Public  opinion  was  in  her  favour. 
Men's  judgments  are  diverse,  and  there  is  no  place 
in  the  world  where  there  is  undivided  and  unanimous 
opinion  on  any  single  subject.  Tradidit  mundum 
disputationibus  eorunt.  Madame  Bergeret  herself  was 
the  subject  of  polite  discussion  and  of  secret  dissent. 
The  greater  number  of  the  ladies  of  her  acquaintance 
considered  her  irreproachable,  otherwise  they  would 
not  have  received  her  at  their  houses.  There 
were  a  few,  however,  who  suspected  that  her  adven- 
ture with  M.  Roux  had  not  been  quite  blameless ; 
some  of  them  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  so.    One 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  9 

blamed  her,  another  excused  her,  a  third  approved 
of  her,  casting  all  the  blame  upon  M.  Bergeret,  as 
being  a  spiteful  man. 

That  point,  too,  was  open  to  doubt.  Some  people 
declared  M.  Bergeret  to  be  a  nice,  quiet  man,  the 
only  thing  to  dislike  in  him  being  his  too  subtle 
mind,  which  was  at  variance  with  public  opinion. 

M.  de  Terremondre  said  that  M.  Bergeret  was  a 
very  nice  sort  of  man  ;  to  which  Madame  Dellion 
replied  that  if  he  were  really  a  good  man  he  would 
have  stood  by  his  wife,  however  wicked  she  was. 

"  There  would  be  some  merit  in  that,"  she  said. 
"  There  is  nothing  noble  in  putting-up  with  a 
charming  woman." 

Another  opinion  of  Madame  Dellion's  was :  "  M. 
Bergeret  is  doing  his  utmost  to  keep  his  wife,  but 
she  is  leaving  him,  and  quite  right  too  !  It  serves 
M.  Bergeret  right." 

Thus  did  Madame  Dellion  express  opinions  which 
were  inconsistent,  for  human  thought  has  ever  de- 
pended not  upon  force  of  reason  but  on  violence  of 
feeling. 

Although  the  world  is  known  to  be  uncertain  in 
its  judgment,  Madame  Bergeret  would  have  gone 
from  the  town  in  possession  of  a  good  reputation, 
if  on  the  very  eve  of  her  departure,  when  paying 
her  farewell  visit  to  INIadame  Lacarelle,  she  had  not 
met  M.  Lacarelle  alone  in  the  drawing-room. 


ic  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

M.  Gustave  Lacarelle,  chief  clerk  at  the  prefec- 
ture^ had  a  long,  thick,  fair  moustache,  which,  while 
the  chief  characteristic  of  his  countenance,  was  also 
destined  to  determine  his  character.  In  his  student 
days  at  the  Law  Schools,  his  comrades  had  dis- 
covered in  him  a  resemblance  to  the  ancient 
Gauls,  as  depicted  in  the  sculpture  and  paintings 
of  the  later  romanticists.  Other  more  careful 
observers,  remarking  that  the  long  strands  of  hair 
were  situated  under  a  snub  nose  and  placid  eyes, 
gave  Lacarelle  the  name  of  "  The  Seal."  The 
latter,  however,  did  not  prevail  against  that 
of  "  The  Gaul."  Lacarelle  became  "  The  Gaul " 
to  his  companions,  who  consequently  made  up 
their  minds  that  he  ought  to  be  a  great  drinker,  a 
great  fighter,  and  a  devil  with  the  women,  in  order 
that  he  might  conform  in  reality  to  the  Frenchman 
of  immemorial  tradition.  At  the  Corps  dinners  he 
was  forced  to  drink  far  more  than  he  wanted,  and  he 
could  never  go  into  a  brasserie  with  his  friends 
without  being  pushed  up  against  some  tray-laden 
waitress.  When  he  married  and  returned  to  his 
native  town,  and,  by  what  was  a  great  stroke  of 
fortune  in  those  days,  obtained  a  post  in  the 
Central  Administration  of  the  department  from 
which  he  hailed,  Gustave  Lacarelle  continued  to  be 
called  "  The  Gaul  "  by  the  most  important  of  the 
magistrates,  lawyers,  and  Government  officials  who 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  ii 

frequented  his  house.  The  ignorant  mob,  how- 
ever, did  not  bestow  this  name  upon  him  until 
1895,  in  which  year  a  statue  to  Eporedorix  was 
erected  and  unveiled  on  the  Pont  National. 

Twenty-two  years  previously,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  M.  Thiers,  it  had  been  decided  that  sub- 
scriptions should  be  invited  for  the  erection  of  a 
statue  to  the  Gaulish  chief  Eporedorix,  who,  in  the 
year  52  B.C.,  led  the  river  tribes  against  Caesar,  and 
imperilled  the  small  Roman  garrison  by  cutting 
down  the  wooden  bridge  built  by  them  to  ensure 
communication  with  the  rest  of  the  Army.  The 
archaeologists  of  the  little  county  town  firmly 
believed  that  this  feat  of  arms  had  been  accom- 
plished in  their  town,  founding  their  belief  on  a 
passage  in  the  Commentaries  which  all  the  learned 
societies  of  the  district  quoted  as  a  proof  of  the 
fact  that  the  wooden  bridge  cut  down  by  Eporedorix 
was  situated  in  their  particular  town.  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  uncertainty  with  regard  to  Caesar's 
geography,  and  local  patriotism  is  both  fierce  and 
jealous.  The  chief  town  of  the  department,  three 
sous -prefectures,  and  four  smaller  towns  quar- 
relled for  the  glory  of  having  slaughtered  the 
Romans  by  the  hand  of  Eporedorix. 

Competent  authority  decided  the  question  in 
favour  of  the  capital  town  of  the  department.  It 
was  an  unfortified  town,  which  much  to  its  sorrow 

B 


12  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

and  anger  had  been  forced  in  1870  after  one  hour's 
bombardment  to  allow  the  enemy  to  enter  its  walls, 
walls  which  in  the  time  of  Louis  XI  had  been 
crumbling  to  pieces,  and  now  lay  concealed  beneath 
the  ivy  that  had  overgrown  them. 

The  town  had  undergone  the  hardships  and 
privations  of  military  occupation.  It  had  suffered 
and  atoned.  The  project  of  erecting  a  monument 
to  the  memory  of  the  Gaulish  chief  was  received 
with  enthusiasm  by  the  townspeople,  who  were 
experiencing  the  humiliation  of  defeat,  and  were 
all  the  more  grateful  to  their  long-dead  compatriot 
for  providing  them  with  something  of  which  they 
could  be  proud.  Resuscitated  after  fifteen  hundred 
years  of  oblivion,  Eporedorix  united  all  the  citizens 
in  a  bond  of  filial  devotion.  The  name  of  the  hero 
roused  no  distrust  in  any  of  the  different  political 
parties  which  were  then  dividing  France.  Oppor- 
tunists, Radicals,  Constitutionalists,  Royalists,  Or- 
leanists,  Bonapartists,  they  all  gave  to  the  scheme  ; 
half  the  cost  was  subscribed  within  the  year,  and 
deputies  of  the  department  obtained  from  the 
Government  what  was  wanting  to  make  up  the 
required  sum. 

The  order  for  the  statue  of  Eporedorix  was  given 
to  Mathieu  Michel,  David  d' Angers'  youngest 
pupil,  he  whom  the  Master  had  called  his  Benjamin. 
Mathieu  Michel,  who  was  then  in  his  fiftieth  year. 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  13 

at  once  set  to  work,  and  attacked  the  clay  with  a 
generous,  if  somewhat  cramped,  hand,  for  the  re- 
pubHcan  sculptor  had  done  but  little  work  during 
the  Empire.  In  less  than  two  years,  however,  he 
finished  the  figure,  a  plaster  model  of  which  was 
exhibited  in  the  Salon  of  1873,  among  many  other 
Gaulish  chiefs  gathered  together  among  the  palms 
and  begonias  under  the  huge  glass  dome.  Owing 
to  the  endless  formalities  insisted  upon  by  the 
authorities,  the  statue  was  not  finally  completed 
in  marble  for  another  five  years.  After  this,  so 
many  administrative  diflficulties,  so  many  disputes 
arose,  between  the  town  and  the  Government,  that 
it  looked  as  though  the  statue  of  Eporedorix  would 
never  be  erected  upon  the  Pont  National. 

In  1895,  however,  the  work  was  accomplished, 
and  the  statue,  arriving  from  Paris,  was  received 
by  the  prefet,  who  solemnly  handed  it  over  to  the 
mayor  of  the  town.  Mathieu  Michel  accompanied 
his  work.  He  was  then  over  seventy,  and  the 
whole  town  turned  out  to  look  at  the  old  man 
with  his  lion-like  head  and  long,  flowing,  white  hair. 

The  inauguration  took  place  on  the  7th  of  June, 
when  M.  Dupont  was  Minister  of  Public  Instruction, 
M.  Worms-Clavelin  frefet  of  the  department,  and 
M.  Trumelle  mayor  of  the  town.  Doubtless  the 
enthusiasm  was  not  what  it  would  have  been  on 
the  morrow  of  the  invasion,  when  indignation  was 


14  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

at  its  height,  but  at  any  rate  everybody  was  satisfied. 
The  speeches  and  also  the  uniforms  of  the  officers 
met  with  applause,  and  when  the  green  veil  which 
hid  Eporedorix  from  view  was  withdrawn  the 
whole  town  cried  as  with  one  voice,  "  Lacarelle  ! 
it  is  Lacarelle  !   it  is  the  image  of  Lacarelle  !  " 

This,  to  tell  the  truth,  was  by  no  means  correct. 
Mathieu  Michel,  the  pupil  and  emulator  of  David 
d' Angers,  he  whom  the  venerable  master  called  the 
child  of  his  old  age,  the  republican  sculptor  and 
patriot,  insurgent  in  '48,  volunteer  in  '70,  had  not 
portrayed  M.  Gustave  Lacarelle  in  this  marble  hero. 
No,  indeed  !  This  chief,  with  his  shy  and  gentle 
look,  clasping  his  lance,  and  seeming,  under  his 
wide-winged  helmet,  to  be  meditating  upon  the 
poetry  of  Chateaubriand  and  the  historic  philosophy 
of  Henri  Martin,  this  warrior,  steeped  in  romantic 
melancholy,  was  not,  in  spite  of  what  the  people 
cried,  the  true  portrait  of  M.  Lacarelle. 

The  prejet's  secretary  had  big,  prominent  eyes, 
a  short,  snub  nose,  flabby  cheeks,  and  a  double  chin. 
Mathieu  Michel's  Eporedorix  gazed  with  deep- 
set  orbs  into  the  distance.  His  nose  was  Grecian, 
and  the  contour  of  his  face  pure  and  classical.  But, 
like  M.  Lacarelle,  he  had  a  tremendous  moustache, 
the  long,  curving  branches  of  which  were  visible 
from  every  point  of  view. 

Struck  by  this   resemblance,  the   crowd   unani- 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  15 

mously  bestowed  upon  M.  Lacarelle  the  glorious 
name  of  Eporedorix,  and  from  that  time  the 
secretary  of  the  prefet  found  himself  compelled 
to  personate  in  public  the  popular  idea  of  the 
Gaul,  and  to  conform  to  it  by  word  and  deed 
under  all  circumstances.  Lacarelle  was  fairly 
successful,  for  he  had  had  plenty  of  practice  since 
his  student  days,  and  all  that  was  required  of  him 
was  to  be  hail-fellow-well-met  with  everybody, 
keen  on  the  Army,  and  a  teller  of  broad  stories 
when  necessary.  He  was  considered  to  be  an  adept 
at  kissing  women,  and  so  he  became  a  great  embracer. 
He  kissed  them  all  and  he  kissed  them  always.  It 
did  not  matter  who  they  were :  women,  young  girls, 
and  Httle  girls,  pretty  ones  and  plain,  old  and  young, 
he  embraced  them  out  of  pure  Gaulishness,  and 
with  no  evil  intentions,  for  he  was  a  moral  man. 

And  that  is  why,  coming  unexpectedly  upon 
Madame  Bergeret  waiting  in  the  drawing-room  for 
his  wife,  he  immediately  embraced  her.  Madame 
Bergeret  was  not  ignorant  of  M.  Lacarelle's  little 
habit,  but  her  vanity,  which  was  great,  confounded 
her  judgment,  v/hich  v^as  scanty.  She  thought  he 
kissed  her  because  he  loved  her,  and  straightway  fell 
into  so  great  an  emotion  that  her  bosom  heaved 
stormily,  her  legs  gave  way  beneath  her,  and  she 
sank  panting  into  the  arms  of  M.  Lacarelle.  The 
latter  was  both  surprised  and  embarrassed,  but  his 


i6  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

amour-propre  was  flattered.  He  placed  Madame 
Bergeret  as  comfortably  as  he  could  upon  the  couch, 
and,  bending  over  her,  said  in  a  voice  filled  with 
sympathy : 

"  Poor  lady !  So  charming  and  so  unhappy  ! 
And  so  you  are  leaving  us  ?  You  are  going 
to-morrow  ?  " 

And  he  imprinted  upon  her  brow  a  chaste  kiss. 
But  Madame  Bergeret,  whose  nerves  were  all  un- 
strung, burst  into  a  fit  of  sobs  and  tears ;  then 
slowly,  solemnly,  and  sorrowfully  she  returned  his 
kiss  at  the  very  moment  that  Madame  Lacarelle 
entered  the  room. 

The  next  day  the  whole  town  sat  in  judgment 
upon  Madame  Bergeret,  who  had  remained  among 
them  just  one  day  too  long. 


CHAPTER  II 

HAT  day  the  Due  de  Brece  was 
entertaining  General  Cartier  de 
Chalmot,  Abbe  Guitrel,  and  Lerond, 
the  ex-deputy,  at  Brece.  They  had 
visited  the  stables,  the  kennels,  the 
pheasantry,  and  had  been  talking,  all  the  time, 
about  the  Affair. 

As  the  twilight  fell,  they  commenced  to  stroll 
slowly  along  the  great  avenue  of  the  park.  Before 
them  the  chateau  rose  up,  in  the  dapple  grey  sky, 
with  its  heavy  fagade  laden  with  pediments  and 
crowned  with  the  high-pitched  roofs  of  the  Empire 
period. 

"  I  am  convinced,"  said  M.  de  Brece,  "  as  I  said 
before,  that  the  fuss  made  over  this  affair  is,  and 
can  only  be,  some  abominable  plot  instigated  by 
the  enemies  of  France." 

"  And  of  religion,"  gently  added  Abbe  Guitrel. 
"  It  is  impossible  to  be  a  good  Frenchman  without 
being  a  good  Christian.  And  it  is  clear  that  the 
scandal  was  started  in  the  first  place  by  free- 
thinkers and  freemasons,  by  Protestants." 

17 


1 8  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  And  Jews,"  went  on  M.  de  Brece,  "  Jews  and 
Germans.  What  unheard-of  audacity  to  question 
the  decision  of  a  court  martial !  For,  when  all  is 
said  and  done,  it  is  quite  impossible  for  seven  French 
officers  to  have  made  a  mistake," 

"  No,  of  course,  that  is  not  to  be  thought  of," 
said  the  Abbe  Guitrel. 

"  Generally  speaking,"  put  in  M.  Lerond,  "  a 
miscarriage  of  justice  is  a  most  improbable  thing. 
I  would  even  go  so  far  as  to  say  an  impossible  thing, 
inasmuch  as  the  law  protects  the  accused  in  so 
many  ways.  I  am  speaking  of  civil  law,  and  I  say 
the  same  of  martial  law.  As  far  as  courts  martial 
are  concerned,  even  supposing  the  prisoner's  interest 
to  be  less  thoroughly  safeguarded  owing  to  the 
comparatively  summary  form  of  procedure,  he 
finds  all  necessary  security  in  the  character  of  his 
judges.  To  my  mind  it  is  an  insult  to  the  Army, 
to  doubt  the  legality  of  a  verdict  delivered  by  a 
court  martial." 

"  You  are  quite  correct,"  replied  the  Duke. 
"  Besides,  can  anyone  really  believe  seven  French 
officers  to  be  mistaken  ?  Is  such  a  thing  con- 
ceivable, General  ?  " 

"  Hardly,"  replied  General  Cartier  de  Chalmot. 
"  It  would  take  a  great  deal  to  make  me  believe  it." 

"  A  syndicate  of  treachery !  "  cried  M.  de  Brece. 
"  The  thing  is  unheard  of  !  " 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  19 

Conversation  flagged  and  fell.  The  Duke  and  the 
General  had  just  caught  sight  of  some  pheasants  in 
a  clearing,  and,  smitten  simultaneously  with  the 
burning  and  instinctive  desire  to  kill,  mentally 
recorded  a  regret  at  having  no  guns  with  them. 

*'  You  have  the  finest  coverts  in  the  district," 
said  the  General  to  the  Due  de  Brece. 

The  Duke  was  deep  in  thought. 

"  I  don't  care  what  anyone  says,"  he  remarked, 
''  the  Jews  will  never  be  any  good  to  France." 

The  Due  de  Brece,  eldest  son  of  the  late  Duke — 
who  had  cut  a  dash  among  the  light-horse  at  the 
Assemblee  de  Versailles — had  entered  public  life 
after  the  death  of  the  Comte  de  Chambord.  He 
had  never  known  the  days  of  hope,  the  hours  of 
ardent  struggle,  of  monarchical  enterprises  as 
exciting  as  a  conspiracy  and  as  impassioned  as  an 
act  of  faith.  He  had  never  seen  the  tapestried  bed 
offered  to  the  Prince  by  noble  ladies,  nor  the  banners, 
the  flags  and  the  white  horses  which  were  to  bring 
the  King  to  his  own  again.  By  right  of  birth  as  a 
Brece  he  took  his  place  as  deputy  at  the  Palais- 
Bourbon,  nourishing  a  secret  enmity  against  the 
Comte  de  Paris,  and  a  hidden  wish  never  to  sec  the 
restoration,  if  it  were  to  be  in  favour  of  the  younger 
branch  of  the  Royal  Family.  With  this  one  excep- 
tion he  was  a  loyal  and  faithful  Royalist.  He  was 
drawn  into  intrigues  which  he  did  not  understand, 


20  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

made  a  hopeless  muddle  of  his  votes,  spent  his 
money  freely  in  Paris,  and  when  the  elections  took 
place  found  himself  defeated  at  Brece  by  Dr. 
Cotard. 

From  that  day  onward  he  devoted  his  time  to 
farming,  to  his  family  and  to  religion.  All  that 
remained  of  his  hereditary  domain,  which  in  1789 
was  composed  of  one  hundred  and  twelve  parishes, 
comprising  one  hundred  and  seventy  "  Hommages," 
four  "  Terres  titres,"  and  eighteen  manors,  was 
about  two  thousand  acres  of  land  and  forest  around 
the  historic  castle  of  Brece.  In  his  department  the 
Brece  coverts  invested  him  with  a  lustre  that  he 
had  never  enjoyed  at  the  Palais-Bourbon.  The 
forests  of  Brece  and  La  Guerche,  in  which  Francis  I 
had  hunted,  were  also  celebrated  in  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  the  district,  for  in  these  woods  was 
situated  the  time-honoured  chapel  of  Notre-Dame- 
des-Belles-Feuilles. 

"  Now  mark  what  I  tell  you,"  repeated  the 
Due  de  Brece,  "  the  Jews  will  bring  misfortune 
upon  France.  Why  don't  we  get  rid  of  them  ? 
Nothing  would  be  easier  !  " 

"  It  would  be  a  great  thing,"  replied  the  magis- 
trate, "  but  not  so  easy  as  you  imagine,  M.  le 
Due.  In  the  first  place,  if  you  wish  in  any  way  to 
affect  the  position  of  the  Jews  in  this  country,  you 
must  make  new  laws  on  naturalization.     Now  it  is 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  21 

always  difficult  to  make  a  law  which  will  satis- 
factorily fulfil  the  intentions  of  the  legislator,  and 
laws  such  as  these  would  affect  the  whole  of  our 
legal  system,  and  would,  moreover,  be  extremely 
difficult  to  draft.  Then,  unfortunately,  we  could 
never  be  certain  of  finding  a  Government  ready  to 
propose  or  support  them,  nor  a  Parliament  to  carry 
them.  The  Senate  is  no  good.  As  history  unrolls 
itself  before  our  eyes  we  make  the  discovery  that  the 
eighteenth  century  is  one  huge  error  of  the  human 
understanding,  and  that  social  as  well  as  religious 
truths  are  to  be  found  in  their  full  completeness  only 
in  the  traditions  of  the  Middle  Ages.  By  and  by 
France  will  find  it  necessary — as  Russia  has  done 
with  regard  to  the  Jews — to  revert  to  the  procedure 
adopted  in  those  feudal  times  which  offer  the  best 
example  of  the  typical  Christian  state." 

"  Naturally,"  said  the  Duke,  "  Christian  France 
should  belong  to  Frenchmen  and  Christians,  not  to 
Jews  and  Protestants." 

"  Bravo  !  "  cried  the  General. 

"  There  was  a  younger  son  in  our  family,"  went 
on  the  Duke,  "  called  Nez-d' Argent — I  don't  know 
why — who  fought  in  the  provinces  during  the  reign 
of  Charles  IX.  On  that  tree  whose  leafless  top  you 
see  over  there,  he  hanged  six  hundred  and  thirty- 
six  Huguenots.  Well,  I  must  confess  I  am  proud 
of  being  a  descendant  of  Nez-d' Argent.     I  have 


22  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

inherited  his  hatred  of  heretics,  and  I  hate  Jews  in 
the  same  way  that  he  hated  Protestants." 

"  Such  sentiments  are  most  praiseworthy,  M.  le 
Due,"  remarked  the  Abbe,  "  most  laudable,  and 
worthy  of  the  great  name  you  bear.  But,  if  you 
will  allow  me,  I  will  make  a  comment  on  just  one 
point.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  Jews  were  not 
considered  heretics,  and,  properly  speaking,  they 
are  not  heretics.  The  heretic  is  a  man  who,  having 
been  baptized,  and  instructed  in  the  doctrines  of 
the  faith,  misrepresents  or  denies  them.  Such  are, 
or  rather  were,  the  Arians,  the  Albigenses,  the 
Novatians,  the  Montanists,  the  Priscillianists,  the 
Waldenses,  the  Anabaptists,  and  the  Calvinists, 
so  cleverly  disposed  of  by  your  illustrious  ancestor, 
Nez-d' Argent  ;  not  to  mention  many  other  sects 
who  upheld  doctrines  contrary  to  the  beliefs  of  the 
Church.  The  number  of  them  is  very  great,  for 
variety  is  a  characteristic  of  error.  There  is  no 
stopping  on  the  downward  path  of  heresy  ;  and 
schism  reproduces  and  multiplies  itself  ad  infinitum. 
All  that  one  finds  opposing  the  true  Church  is 
the  dust  and  ashes  of  churches.  The  other  day, 
when  reading  Bossuet,  I  came  across  an  admirable 
definition  of  a  heretic.  *  A  heretic,'  says  Bossuet, 
'  is  one  who  holds  an  opinion  of  his  own  ;  one  who 
acts  according  to  his  own  ideas  and  his  own  feelings.' 
Now  the  Jew,  who  has  never  received  baptism  nor 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  23 

been  instructed  in  the  truth,  cannot  rightly  be  called 
a  heretic. 

"  And  again  we  see  that  the  Inquisition  never 
chastised  a  Jew  as  such,  and  if  a  Jew  was  handed 
over  to  earthly  justice  it  was  because  he  was  a 
blasphemer,  a  profane  person,  or  a  corrupter  of  the 
faithful.  A  better  name  for  the  Jew  would  be 
infidel,  because  that  is  the  name  we  give  to  those 
who,  being  unbaptized,  do  not  believe  in  the 
truths  of  the  Christian  religion.  Again,  we  must 
not,  strictly  speaking,  look  upon  the  Jew  as  an 
infidel,  in  the  same  way  as  we  should  a  Moham- 
medan or  an  idolater.  The  Jews  occupy  a  unique 
and  singular  position  in  the  economy  of  the 
eternal  verities.  Theology  bestows  upon  them  a 
designation  conformable  to  their  role  in  history. 
They  were  called  '  witnesses '  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  we  must  admire  the  force  and  precision  of 
such  a  term.  The  reason  why  God  allows  them 
to  live  is  that  they  may  serve  as  witnesses  and 
sureties  for  the  words  and  deeds  upon  which  our 
religion  is  founded.  We  must  not  go  so  far  as  to 
say  that  God  purposely  makes  the  Jews  obstinate 
and  blind  to  serve  as  living  proofs  of  Christianity  ; 
but  He  utilizes  their  free  and  voluntary  stubborn- 
ness to  confirm  us  in  our  belief.  It  is  for  that  reason 
that  He  allows  them  a  place  among  the  nations." 

"  But    in    the    meanwhile,"    put    in    the    Duke, 


24  THE  AMETHYSl'  RING 

"  they  rob  us  of  our  money  and  destroy  our  national 
energy." 

"  And  they  insult  the  Army,"  said  General 
Cartier  de  Chalmot.  "  Or  rather  it  is  insulted  by 
the  wretches  in  their  pay." 

"  And  that  is  a  crime,"  remarked  the  Abbe 
gently.  "  The  salvation  of  France  depends  upon 
the  alliance  of  the  Church  and  the  Army." 

"  Well,  then,  M.  I'Abbe,  why  do  you  defend 
the  Jews  ?  "  demanded  the  Due  de  Brece. 

"  Far  from  defending  them,"  replied  the  Abbe 
Guitrel,  '*  I  condemn  their  unpardonable  sin,  which 
is  to  deny  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.  On  this 
point  their  obstinacy  is  invincible.  Their  own 
belief  is  rational  enough,  but  they  do  not  believe 
all  that  they  should,  and  that  is  why  they  have 
drawn  so  heavy  a  blame  upon  themselves.  This 
blame  rests  upon  the  Jews  as  a  nation,  and  not 
as  individuals,  and  cannot  touch  any  who  have 
been  converted  to  Christianity." 

"  For  my  part,"  said  the  Duke,  "  converted  Jews 
are  just  as  odious  to  me,  more  odious  even,  than 
other  Jews.    It  is  the  race  I  dislike." 

"  Allow  me  to  say  I  do  not  believe  you,  M.  le 
Due,"  said  the  Abbe.  "  For  that  would  be  to  sin 
against  charity  and  the  teaching  of  the  Church. 
I  am  sure  that,  like  myself,  you  are  grateful  to  a 
certain  extent  to  some  unconverted  Jews  for  their 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  25 

liberal  donations  towards  our  charities.  It  is 
impossible  to  deny,  for  instance,  that  families  like 

the  R — —  and  the  F have,   in  this  respect, 

shown  an  example  which  might  well  be  followed 
by  all  Christian  families.  I  will  go  so  far  as  to 
say  that  Madame  Worms-Clavelin,  although  not 
openly  converted  to  Catholicism,  has  on  several 
occasions  given  proof  of  truly  divine  inspiration. 
It  is  to  the  frejefs  v\ife  that  we  owe  the  toler- 
ance with  which  in  the  midst  of  general  persecu- 
tion our  Church  schools  are  regarded  in  this  de- 
partment. As  for  Madame  de  Bonmont,  who 
is  a  Jewess  by  birth,  she  is  a  true  Christian  in- 
deed, and  takes  pattern  to  a  certain  extent  by 
those  holy  widows  who  in  centuries  past  gave  a 
part  of  their  riches  to  the  churches  and  the 
poor." 

"  The  Bonmonts'  real  name  is  Gutenberg,"  put 
in  M.  Lerond.  "  They  are  of  German  extraction. 
The  grandfather  amassed  his  riches  by  the  manu- 
facture of  the  two  poisons,  absinth  and  vermuth, 
and  was  imprisoned  no  less  than  three  times  for 
infringement  and  adulteration.  The  father,  who 
was  a  manufacturer  and  a  financier,  made  a 
scandalous  fortune  through  speculation  and 
monopoly.  Subsequently  his  widow  presented  a 
golden  ciborium  to  Monseigneur  Chariot.  That 
sort  of  people  always  makes  me  think  of  the  two 


26  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

attorneys  who,  after  listening  to  a  sermon  by  good 
Father  Maillard,  said  to  each  other  at  the  church 
door, '  Well,  neighbour,  have  we  got  to  disgorge  ?  '  " 

"  It  is  an  extraordinary  thing,"  said  M.  Lerond, 
"  that  the  Semitic  question  has  never  arisen  in 
England." 

"  That  is  because  the  English  are  not  made  the 
same  as  we  are,"  said  the  Duke.  "  Their  blood  is 
not  so  hot  as  ours." 

"  True,"  said  M.  Lerond.  "  I  fully  appreciate 
that  remark  ;  but  it  may  arise  from  the  fact  that 
the  English  engage  all  their  capital  in  trade,  while 
our  hard-working  population  save  theirs  for  specula- 
tion ;  in  other  words,  for  the  Jews.  The  whole 
trouble  arises  from  having  to  submit  to  the  laws 
and  customs  of  the  Revolution.  Salvation  lies  in 
a  speedy  return  to  the  old  regime." 

"  That's  true,"  said  the  Due  de  Brece  thought- 
fully. 

They  walked  along,  chatting  as  they  went. 
Suddenly  a  char-a-banc  passed  them,  bowling  along 
the  road  thrown  open  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
town  by  the  late  Duke.  Filled  with  laughing, 
noisy  people,  it  went  swiftly  past  them  ;  amongst 
the  countrywomen  with  their  flower-bedecked  hats, 
and  the  farmers  in  blouses,  sat  a  jovial  red-bearded 
fellow  smoking  a  pipe.  He  was  pretending  to  aim 
at  imaginary  pheasants  with  his  cane  as  they  passed 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  27 

by.  It  was  Dr.  Cotard,  member  for  the  Brece 
district,  member  for  the  ancient  seigniory  of 
Brece. 

"  That,  at  any  rate,  is  a  strange  sight,"  said  M. 
Lerond,  brushing  off  the  dust  raised  by  the  char-a- 
banc,  "  to  see  Cotard,  the  medical  officer  of  health, 
representing  this  district,  upon  which  your  ances- 
tors, M.  le  Due,  showered  benefits  and  glories  for 
eight  hundred  years.  Only  yesterday  I  was  re- 
reading in  M.  de  Terremondre's  book  the  letter 
which  your  great-great-grandfather,  the  Due  de 
Brece,  wrote  in  1787  to  his  steward,  and  which 
proves  how  kind-hearted  he  was.  You  remember 
the  letter,  do  you  not  ?  " 

The  Duke  replied  that  he  remembered  the 
letter  in  question,  but  could  not  be  sure  of  the 
precise  terms  employed. 

M.  Lerond  immediately  began  to  recite  by  heart 
the  principal  phrases  of  this  touching  letter.  "  I 
have  learned,"  wrote  the  Good  Duke,  "  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Brece  are  forbidden  to  gather 
strawberries  in  the  woods.  People  are  evidently 
doing  their  best  to  make  me  disliked,  and  that 
would  be  a  terrible  grief  to  me." 

"  I  have  also  found,"  continued  M.  Lerond, 
"  some  interesting  details  on  the  life  of  the  good 
Due  do  Brece  in  M.  de  Terremondre's  summary. 
The  Duke  spent  the  worst  days  of  the  Revolution 


c 


28  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

here  on  his  estate  without  being  in  any  way 
molested,  for  his  good  deeds  gained  him  the  love 
and  respect  of  his  old  retainers.  In  exchange  for 
the  titles  of  which  by  a  decree  of  the  National 
Assembly  he  was  deprived  he  received  that  of 
Commander  of  the  National  Guard  of  Brece. 
M.  de  Terremondre  goes  on  to  tell  us  that  on  the 
20th  of  September,  1792,  the  municipality  of 
Brece  assembled  in  the  courtyard  of  the  castle, 
and  there  planted  a  tree  to  Liberty,  to  which  was 
suspended  this  inscription,  'Hommage  a  la  vertu!'" 
"  M.  de  Terremondre,"  returned  the  Duke,  "drew 
his  information  from  the  archives  of  my  family.  I 
myself  asked  him  to  go  into  them,  for,  unfortunately, 
I  have  never  had  the  time  to  do  so.  Duke  Louis 
de  Brece,  of  whom  you  were  speaking,  surnamed 
'  the  Good  Duke,'  died  of  grief  in  1794.  ^^  ^^^ 
gifted  with  a  kindness  of  disposition  which  even 
the  Revolutionists  themselves  delighted  to  honour. 
Every  one  recognizes  the  fact  that  he  distinguished 
himself  by  his  loyalty  to  his  King ;  that  he  was  a 
good  master,  a  good  father,  and  a  good  husband. 
You  must  take  no  notice  of  the  so-called  revelations 
of  a  man  called  Mazure,  who  is  keeper  of  the 
departmental  archives.  According  to  him  the 
'  Good  Duke's '  benevolence  was  confined  to  his 
prettiest  vassals,  on  whom  he  liked  to  exercise  his 
'  droit   de  jambage.'      As   far  as   that   goes,    this 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  29 

particular  right  to  which  I  allude  is  of  a  very 
problematical  nature,  and  I  have  never  been  able 
to  discover  a  trace  of  it  among  the  Brece  archives, 
which,  by  the  way,  have  been  in  part  destroyed." 

"  This  right,"  said  M.  Lerond,  "  if  it  ever  did 
exist  at  all,  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  payment 
in  meat  or  wine  which  serfs  were  called  upon  to 
bring  to  their  lord  before  contracting  marriage.  If 
I  remember  rightly,  there  were  certain  localities 
where  this  tax  existed,  and  was  paid  in  ready  money 
to  the  value  of  three  halfpence." 

"  With  regard  to  that,"  went  on  the  Duke,  "  I 
consider  my  ancestor  entirely  exonerated  from  the 
accusations  brought  against  him  by  this  M.  Mazure, 
who,  I  am  told,  is  a  dangerous  man.  Unfortu- 
nately  "     The  Duke  heaved  a  slight  sigh,  and 

continued  in  a  lower  and  mysterious  voice :  "  Un- 
fortunately, the  Good  Duke  was  in  the  habit 
of  reading  pernicious  books.  Whole  editions  of 
Voltaire  and  Rousseau,  bound  in  morocco  and 
stamped  with  the  Brece  coat  of  arms,  have  been 
discovered  in  the  castle  library.  He  fell,  to  a 
certain  extent,  under  the  detestable  influence  of 
the  philosophical  thought  that  was  rampant  among 
all  classes  of  people  towards  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  even  among  those  in  the 
highest  society.  He  was  possessed  of  a  mania  for 
writing,  and  was  the  author  of  certain  Memoirs, 


30  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

the  manuscript  of  which  is  still  in  my  possession. 
Both  the  Duchess  and  M.  de  Terremondre  have 
glanced  through  it.  It  is  surprising  to  find  there 
traces  of  the  Voltairian  spirit,  and  the  Duke  now 
and  then  shows  his  partiality  for  the  Encyclopae- 
dists. He  used,  in  fact,  to  correspond  with  Diderot. 
That  is  why  I  have  thought  it  wise  to  withhold  my 
consent  to  the  publication  of  these  Memoirs, 
in  spite  of  the  request  of  some  of  the  savants  of  the 
district,  and  of  M.  de  Terremondre  himself. 

"  The  Good  Duke  could  turn  a  rhyme  quite 
prettily,  and  he  filled  whole  books  with  madrigals, 
epigrams,  and  stories.  That  is  quite  excusable.  A 
far  more  serious  matter,  however,  is  that  he  some- 
times permitted  himself  to  jeer  at  the  ceremonies 
of  our  holy  religion,  and  even  at  the  miracles  per- 
formed by  the  intervention  of  Notre-Dame-des- 
Belles-Feuilles.  I  beg,  gentlemen,  that  you  will  say 
nothing  of  all  this ;  it  must  remain  strictly  between 
ourselves.  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  hand  over 
anecdotes  such  as  these  to  feed  the  unhealthy 
curiosity  of  men  like  M.  Mazure,  and  the  malice  of 
the  public  in  general.  The  Due  de  Brece  in  question 
was  my  great-great-grandfather,  and  my  family 
pride  is  great.  I  am  sure  you  will  not  blame  me 
for  this." 

"  Much  valuable  instruction  and  great  consola- 
tions are  to  be  derived  from  what  you  have  just 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  31 

related  to  us,  Monsieur,"  said  the  Abbe.  "  The 
conclusion  we  arrive  at  is  that  France,  which  in  the 
eighteenth  century  had  turned  away  from  Chris- 
tianity, and  was  so  steeped  in  wickedness,  even  to 
the  very  greatest  in  the  land,  that  good  men,  such 
as  your  noble  great-great-grandfather,  pandered  to 
the  false  philosophy;  France,  I  say,  punished  for 
her  crimes  by  a  terrible  revolution,  is  now  amending 
her  evil  ways,  and  witnessing  the  return  to  piety  of 
all  classes  of  the  nation,  especially  in  the  highest 
circles.  Examples  such  as  yours.  Monsieur,  are 
not  to  be  ignored,  and  if  the  eighteenth  century, 
taken  altogether,  appears  as  the  century  of  crime, 
the  nineteenth,  judging  by  the  attitude  of  the 
aristocracy,  may,  if  I  mistake  not,  be  called  the 
century  of  public  penance." 

"  God  grant  that  you  are  right,"  sighed  M. 
Lerond.  "  But  I  dare  not  allow  myself  to  hope. 
My  profession  as  a  man  of  law  brings  me  into 
contact  with  the  masses,  and  I  invariably  find  them 
indifferent,  and  even  hostile  to  religion.  Let  me 
tell  you,  M.  I'Abbe,  that  my  experience  of  the 
world  leads  me  to  share  in  the  deep  sorrow  of 
the  Abbe  Lantaigne,  and  not  in  your  optimistic 
view  of  things.  Now,  without  going  further  afield, 
do  you  not  see  that  this  Christian  land  of  Brcce 
has  become  the  fief  of  the  atheist  and  freemason, 
Dr.  Cotard  ?  " 


32    '  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  And  who  can  say,"  demanded  the  General, 
"  whether  the  Duke  will  not  unseat  Dr.  Cotard 
at  the  next  elections  ?  I  am  told  that  a  contest  is 
more  than  probable,  and  that  a  good  number  of 
electors  are  in  favour  of  the  chateau." 

"  My  decision  is  unalterable,"  replied  the  Duke, 
"  and  nothing  can  make  me  change  it.  I  shall  not 
stand  again.  I  have  not  the  necessary  qualifications 
to  represent  the  electors  of  Brece,  and  the  electors 
of  Brece  have  not  the  necessary  qualifications  for 
me  to  wish  to  represent  them." 

This  speech  had  been  composed  by  his  secretary, 
M.  Lacrisse,  at  the  time  of  his  electoral  reverse, 
and  since  then  he  had  made  a  point  of  quoting  it 
on  every  possible  occasion. 

Just  at  that  moment  three  ladies,  descending  the 
terrace  steps,  came  along  the  great  drive  towards 
them. 

They  were  the  three  Brece  ladies,  the  mother, 
wife,  and  daughter  of  the  present  Duke.  They 
were  all  tall,  massive,  and  freckled,  with  smooth 
hair  tightly  plastered  back,  and  clad  in  black  dresses 
and  thick  boots.  They  were  on  their  way  to  the 
church  of  Notre-Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles,  situated 
by  the  side  of  a  well  half-way  between  the  town  and 
the  chateau. 

The  General  suggested  that  they  should  accom- 
pany the  ladies. 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  33 

"  Nothing  could  be  more  delightful,"  said  IM. 
Lerond. 

"  True,"  assented  the  Abbe,  "  and  all  the  more 
so  because  the  sacred  edifice,  which  has  lately  been 
restored  and  richly  redecorated  by  the  care  of  the 
Duke,  is  most  delightful  to  see." 

The  Abbe  Guitrel  took  a  special  interest  in  the 
chapel  of  Notre-Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles,  of  which, 
in  archaeological  and  pious  vein,  he  had  written  a 
history,  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  pilgrims  to  the 
shrine.  According  to  him  the  church  dated  from 
the  reign  of  Clotaire  H.  "  At  this  period,"  wrote 
the  historian,  "  St.  Austregisile,  full  of  years  and 
good  works,  and  exhausted  by  his  apostolic  labours, 
built  with  his  own  hands  in  this  desert  spot  a  hut, 
where  he  could  pass  his  days  in  meditation,  and 
await  the  approach  of  blessed  death ;  he  also 
erected  an  oratory,  in  which  he  placed  a  miraculous 
statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin." 

This  assertion  had  been  vigorously  contested  by 
M.  Mazure  in  the  Phare.  The  keeper  of  the  depart- 
mental archives  maintained  that  the  worship  of 
Mary  came  well  after  the  sixth  century,  and  that 
at  the  time  in  which  St.  Austregisile  was  supposed 
to  have  lived  there  were  no  statues  of  the  Virgin. 
To  which  the  Abbe  Guitrel  replied  in  the  Semaine 
Religieuse  that  before  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ 
the  Druids   themselves  worshipped   the  image  of 


34  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

the  Virgin  who  was  to  bear  a  son,  and  thus  our  old 
earth  that  was  to  witness  the  remarkable  spread  of 
the  worship  of  Mary  contained  her  altars  and 
images,  prophetic  in  significance  as  the  warnings  of 
the  sibyls,  to  herald  her  appearance  upon  it. 
Therefore,  argued  he,  there  was  nothing  strange  in 
St.  Austregisile's  possessing  an  image  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Clotaire  H.  M. 
Mazure  had  treated  the  arguments  of  the  Abbe  as 
idle  fancies,  and  no  one,  save  M.  Bergeret,  whose 
curiosity  was  unbounded,  had  read  the  record  of 
this  logomachy. 

"  The  sanctuary  erected  by  the  holy  apostle," 
went  on  the  Abbe  Guitrel's  pamphlet,  "  was  re- 
built with  great  magnificence  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  At  the  time  of  the  wars  of  religion  that 
devastated  the  country  during  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  Protestants  fired  the  chapel,  without,  however, 
being  able  to  destroy  the  statue,  which  by  a 
miracle  escaped  the  flames.  The  church  was  re- 
built at  the  behest  of  King  Louis  XIV  and  his  pious 
mother,  but  during  the  Reign  of  Terror  was  totally 
destroyed  by  the  commissioners  of  the  Convention, 
who  carried  the  miraculous  statue,  together  with  the 
furniture  of  the  chapel,  into  the  courtyard  at  Brece 
and  made  a  bonfire  of  the  whole.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, one  of  the  Virgin's  feet  was  saved  from  the 
flames  by  a  good  peasant-woman,  who  wrapped  it 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  35 

carefully  in  old  rags  and  hid  it  in  a  cauldron,  ^vhere 
it  was  discovered  in  1815.  This  foot  was  included 
in  a  new  statue  which,  thanks  to  the  generosity  of 
the  Duke,  was  executed  in  Paris  in  1852." 

The  Abbe  Guitrel  went  on  to  enumerate  the 
miracles  accomplished  from  the  sixth  century  up  to 
the  present  time  by  the  intervention  of  Notre- 
Dames-des-Belles-Feuilles,  who  was  in  particular 
request  for  the  cure  of  diseases  of  the  respiratory 
organs  and  the  lungs.  And  he  further  affirmed  that 
in  1 87 1  she  had  turned  the  Germans  aside  from  the 
town  and  miraculously  healed  of  their  wounds  two 
soldiers  quartered  at  the  chateau  of  Brece,  which 
had  been  turned  into  a  hospital. 

They  reached  the  bottom  of  a  narrow  valley 
with  a  stream  flowing  betw^een  moss-grown  stones. 
On  an  irregular  platform  of  sandstone,  surrounded 
by  dwarf  oak  trees,  rose  the  oratory  of  Notre-Dame- 
des-Belles-Feuilles,  newly  constructed  from  the 
plans  of  M.  Quatrebarbe,  the  diocesan  architect, 
in  that  modern  namby-pamby  style  which  people 
fondly  imagine  to  be  Gothic. 

"  This  oratory,"  said  the  Abbe  Guitrel,  "  was 
burned  down  in  1559  by  the  Calvinists,  and  again 
in  1793  by  the  revolutionaries,  and  nothing  remained 
but  a  mass  of  ruins.  Like  another  Nehemiah,  the 
Due  de  Brece  has  rebuilt  the  sanctuary.     The  Pope, 


36  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

this  year,  has  granted  to  it  numerous  indulgences,  no 
doubt  with  the  object  of  quickening  the  worship  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  in  this  country.  Monseigneur 
Chariot  himself  celebrated  the  Holy  Eucharist 
here,  and  since  then  pilgrims  have  flocked  to  the 
shrine.  They  come  from  all  parts  of  the  diocese, 
and  even  farther.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
such  co-operation  and  zeal  must  draw  special 
blessings  on  the  country.  I  myself  had  the  felicity 
of  bringing  to  the  feet  of  la  Vierge  des  Belles- 
Feuilles  several  respectable  families  of  the  Tintel- 
leries.  And,  with  the  permission  of  the  Duke, 
I  have  more  than  once  celebrated  Mass  at  this 
favoured  altar." 

"That  is  true,"  said  the  Duchess.  "And  it  is 
noticeable  that  the  Abbe  takes  more  interest  in 
our  chapel  than  the  Cure  of  Brece  himself." 

"  Good  M.  Travies !  "  said  the  Duke.  "  He  is  an 
excellent  priest,  but  an  inveterate  sportsman,  and 
all  he  thinks  of  is  shooting.  The  other  day,  on 
returning  from  the  administration  of  extreme 
unction  to  a  dying  man,  he  brought  down  three 
partridges." 

"  Now  that  the  branches  are  devoid  of  leaves," 
said  the  Abbe,  "  you  can  see  the  chapel,  which,  in 
the  summer,  is  entirely  hidden  by  the  thick 
foliage." 

"  One  of  the  reasons  which  made  me  determine 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  37 

to  rebuild  the  chapel  of  Notre-Dame-des-Belles- 
Feuilles,"  said  the  Duke,  "  was  that  on  examining 
the  family  archives,  I  found  that  the  battle-cry  of 
the  Breces  was  '  Brece  Notre-Dame  !  '  " 

"  How  very  strange  !  "  remarked  General  Cartier 
de  Chalmot. 

"  Is  it  not  ?  "  replied  Madame  de  Brece. 

Just  as  the  ladies,  followed  by  M.  Lerond,  were 
crossing  the  rustic  bridge  that  spans  the  stream,  a 
ragged  girl  of  thirteen  or  fourteen,  with  hair  of  the 
same  dirty  white  colour  as  her  face,  slipping  from  a 
copse  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  hollow,  ran  up 
the  steps  and  rushed  into  the  oratory. 

"  There's  Honorine,"  said  Madame  de  Brece. 

"  I've  been  wanting  to  see  her  for  a  long  time," 
said  M.  Lerond,  "  and  I  must  thank  you,  Madame, 
for  being  the  means  of  satisfying  my  curiosity.  I 
have  heard  so  much  about  her  !  " 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  General  Cartier  de  Chalmot. 
"The  young  girl  in  question  has  been  subjected  to 
many  and  searching  inquiries." 

"  M.  de  Goulet,"  put  in  the  Abbe,  "  comes 
regularly  to  the  sanctuary  of  Notre-Dame-des- 
Belles-Feuilles.  It  is  his  pleasure  and  delight  to 
spend  long  hours  in  adoration  of  her  whom  he 
calls  his  mother." 

"  We  arc  very  fond  of  M.  de  Goulet,"  said 
Madame  de  Brece.  "  What  a  pity  it  is  that  he 
should  be  so  delicate." 


38  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  Yes,  alas !  "  replied  the  Abbe.  "  His  strength 
diminishes  from  day  to  day  !  " 

"  He  ought  to  take  more  care  of  himself,"  went 
on  the  Duchess,  "  and  rest  as  much  as  possible." 

"  How  can  he,  Madame  ?  "  asked  the  Abbe. 
"  The  management  of  the  diocese  fills  up  every 
moment  of  his  time." 

As  the  three  ladies,  the  General,  M.  Guitrel,  M. 
Lerond,  and  the  Duke  entered  the  chapel,  they  saw 
Honorine,  as  in  an  ecstasy,  kneeling  at  the  foot  of 
the  altar. 

With  clasped  hands,  and  uplifted  head,  the  child 
knelt  there  motionless.  Out  of  respect  for  her 
mysterious  condition,  they  crossed  themselves 
silently  with  holy  water,  letting  their  gaze  wander 
from  the  Gothic  tabernacle  and  fall  upon  the 
stained-glass  windows,  in  which  the  Comte  de 
Chambord  appeared  in  the  guise  of  St.  Henry,  while 
the  faces  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  and  St.  Guy  were 
executed  from  photographs  of  Comte  Jean,  who 
died  in  1867,  and  the  late  Comte  Guy,  who,  in 
1 87 1,  was  a  member  of  the  Bordeaux  Assembly. 

The  miraculous  statue  was  covered  by  a  veil, 
and  stood  just  over  the  altar.  But  above  the  holy- 
water  stoup,  painted  in  bright  colours  upon  the 
wall  was  a  full-length  figure  of  Notre-Dame  de 
Lourdes,  girdled  with  blue. 

The  General  looked  at  her  with  a  set  expression 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  39 

derived  from  fifty  years  of  mechanical  respect, 
and  gazed  at  her  blue  scarf  as  though  it  had  been 
the  flag  of  a  friendly  nation.  He  had  always  been 
looked  upon  as  something  of  a  mystic,  and  had  con- 
sidered a  belief  in  the  future  life  to  be  the  very  base 
and  foundation-stone  of  military  regulations.  Age 
and  ill-health  were  making  a  devotee  of  him.  For 
some  days  past,  though  he  did  not  betray  it,  he  had 
been,  if  not  worried,  at  any  rate  grieved,  by  the 
recent  scandals.  His  simple-mindedness  had  taken 
fright  at  such  a  tumult  of  words  and  passions,  and 
he  was  obsessed  by  vague  misgivings.  He  sent  up  a 
voiceless  prayer  to  Notre-Dame  de  Lourdes,  im- 
ploring her  protection  for  the  French  Army. 

All  of  them,  the  women,  the  Duke,  the  lawyer, 
and  the  priest,  had  by  this  time  riveted  their  gaze 
upon  the  worn  shoes  of  the  motionless  Honorine, 
and  these  sombre,  solemn,  solid  folk  fell  into  an 
esctasy  of  admiration  at  the  sight  of  the  lithe 
young  body,  now  stiff  and  rigid  ;  M.  Lerond,  who 
prided  himself  on  being  very  observant,  made 
sundry  observations. 

At  last,  however,  Honorine  came  out  of  her 
trance.  She  rose  to  her  feet,  bowed  to  the  altar, 
and  turned  round  ;  then,  as  though  astonished  at 
the  sight  of  so  many  people,  stood  stock  still  and 
brushed  away  with  both  hands  the  hair  that  had 
fallen  over  her  eyes. 


40  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  Well,  my  child,  did  you  see  the  Blessed  Virgin 
to-day  ?  "  asked  Madame  de  Brece. 

In  the  shrill  sing-song  voice  of  a  child  in  the 
catechism  class  answering  by  rote,  Honorine  re- 
plied : 

"  Yes,  Madame.  The  good  Virgin  remained  for 
one  moment,  then  rolled  up  like  a  piece  of  calico, 
and  I  didn't  see  her  any  more." 

"  Did  she  speak  to  you  ?  " 

"  Yes,  Madame." 

"  What  did  she  say  r  " 

"  She  said, '  There  is  much  misery  in  your  home.' " 

"  Is  that  all  she  said  ?  " 

"  She  said^  '  There  will  be  much  misery  in  the 
country  over  the  harvests  and  the  cattle.'  " 

"  Did  she  not  tell  you  to  be  good  ?  " 

"  '  Pray  continually,'  she  said  to  me,  and  then  she 
said  like  this,  '  I  greet  you.  There  is  much  misery 
in  your  home.'  " 

And  the  words  of  the  child  rang  out  in  the  im- 
posing silence. 

"  Was  the  Blessed  Virgin  very  beautiful  ?  "  again 
questioned  Madame  de  Brece. 

"  Yes,  Madame,  But  one  eye  and  one  cheek 
were  missing,  because  I  had  not  prayed  long  enough." 

"  Had  she  a  crown  upon  her  head  ?  "  asked  M. 
Lerond,  who,  as  an  ex-member  of  the  magistracy, 
was  inquisitive  and  fond  of  asking  questions. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  41 

Honorine  hesitated,  and  then,  with  a  cunning 
look,  repHed  : 

"  Her  crown  was  on  one  side." 

"  Right  or  left  ?  "  asked  M.  Lerond. 

"  Right  and  left,"  answered  Honorine. 

Madame  de  Brece  intervened : 

"  What  do  you  mean,  my  child,  that  it  was  first 
on  the  right  and  then  on  the  left  ?  Isn't  that 
what  you  mean  ?  "  But  Honorine  would  not 
answer. 

She  was  in  the  habit  sometimes  of  indulging  in 
obstinate  silences,  standing,  as  now,  with  lowered 
eyes,  rubbing  her  chin  on  her  shoulder  and  fidgeting. 
They  stopped  questioning  her,  and  she  slipped  out 
and  away,  when  the  Duke  began  forthwith  to 
explain  her  case. 

Honorine  Porrichet,  the  daughter  of  a  small 
farmer  w^ho  had  lived  all  his  life  at  Brece  and  had 
fallen  into  the  direst  poverty,  had  always  been  a 
sickly  child.  Her  intelligence  had  developed  so 
slowly  and  tardily,  that  at  first  she  was  looked  upon 
as  an  idiot.  The  Cure  used  to  reproach  her  for  her 
wild  disposition  and  the  habit  she  had  of  hiding 
in  the  woods ;  he  did  not  like  her.  But  some 
enlightened  priests  who  saw  and  questioned  her 
could  find  in  her  nothing  evil.  She  frequented 
churches,  and  would  linger  there  lost  in  dreams 
unusual  in  a  child  of  her  age.    Her  zeal  grew  at  the 


42  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

approach  of  her  first  communion.  At  that  time 
she  fell  a  victim  to  consumption,  and  the  doctors 
gave  her  up.  Dr.  Cotard,  among  others,  said 
there  was  no  hope  for  her.  When  the  new  oratory 
of  Notre-Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles  was  inaugurated 
by  Monseigneur  Chariot,  Honorine  assiduously 
frequented  it.  She  fell  into  ecstasies  when  there, 
and  saw  visions.  She  saw  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who  said 
to  her,  "  I  am  Notre-Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles  !  " 
One  day  Mary  approached  her,  and,  laying  a  finger 
upon  her  throat,  told  her  she  was  cured. 

"  It  was  Honorine  herself  who  came  back  with 
this  remarkable  story,"  added  the  Duke,  ''  and 
she  related  it  several  times  with  the  utmost  sim- 
plicity. People  have  said  that  her  story  was  never 
twice  the  same  ;  what  is  certain,  however,  is  that 
any  inconsistency  on  her  part  only  concerned  the 
minor  details  of  the  narrative.  What  is  also  certain 
is  that  she  suddenly  ceased  to  suffer  from  the 
disease  that  was  killing  her.  The  doctors  who 
examined  and  sounded  her  immediately  after  the 
miraculous  apparition  found  nothing  wrong  either 
with  the  bronchial  tubes  or  the  lungs.  Dr.  Cotard 
himself  confessed  that  he  could  make  nothing  of 
the  cure." 

"  What  do  you  think  of  these  facts  ?  "  said  M. 
Lerond  to  the  Abbe. 

"  They   are   worthy   of   attention,"   replied   the 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  43 

priest,  "  and  give  rise,  in  all  honest  observers,  to 
more  than  one  reflexion.  It  would  certainly  be 
impossible  to  study  them  too  assiduously.  I  can 
say  no  more.  I  should  certainly  never  put  aside 
such  interesting  and  consoling  facts  with  bold  con- 
tempt like  M.  Lantaigne,  neither  should  I  dare, 
like  M.  de  Goulet,  to  call  them  miracles.  I  reserve 
my  opinion." 

"  In  Honorine  Porrichet's  case,"  said  the  Duke, 
"  we  must  consider  both  the  remarkable  cure, 
which  I  am  right  in  saying  was  directly  opposed  to 
medical  knowledge,  and  the  visions  which  she  de- 
clares to  be  vouchsafed  to  her.  Now  you  are  aware, 
M.  I'Abbe,  that  when  the  girl's  eyes  were  photo- 
graphed, during  one  of  her  trances,  the  negatives 
obtained  by  the  photographer,  of  whose  good  faith 
there  is  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  contained  the 
figure  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  imprinted  upon  the 
pupil  of  the  eye.  Certain  persons  whose  evidence 
can  be  relied  on  swear  to  having  seen  the  photo- 
graphs, and  to  having  distinguished,  with  the  aid 
of  a  strong  magnifying-glass,  the  statue  of  Notre- 
Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles." 

"  These  facts  are  worthy  of  notice,"  repeated  the 
Abbe,  "  worthy  of  the  most  careful  attention.  But 
one  must  be  able  to  suspend  judgment,  and  not 
rush  to  premature  conclusions.  Let  us  not,  like  the 
unbelievers,  form  hasty  conclusions,  prompted  by 


44  THE  AME^FHYST  RING 

passion.  In  the  matter  of  miracles,  the  Church 
exercises  the  greatest  caution  ;  she  requires  proofs, 
indisputable  proofs." 

M.  Lerond  asked  whether  it  were  possible  to 
obtain  the  photographs  which  portrayed  the  image 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the  eyes  of  little  Honorine 
Porrichet,  and  the  Duke  promised  to  write  on  the 
subject  to  the  photographer,  whose  studio,  he 
thought,  was  in  the  Place  Saint-Exupere, 

"  Anyhow,"  put  in  Madame  de  Brece,  "  little 
Honorine  is  a  very  good,  nice  little  girl.  She  must 
be  under  the  special  protection  of  Providence,  for 
her  parents,  who  are  overcome  with  illness  and  want, 
have  abandoned  her.  I  have  made  inquiries,  and 
understand  that  her  conduct  is  good." 

"  That  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  all  the  village 
girls  of  her  age,"  added  the  dowager  duchess. 

"  That  is  only  too  true,"  said  the  Duke.  "  The 
peasant  classes  are  growing  more  and  more  demoral- 
ized. I  will  tell  you  of  some  terrible  instances, 
General,  but  as  for  little  Honorine,  she  is  innocence 
itself." 

While  the  foregoing  conversation  was  being  held 
on  the  threshold  of  the  church,  Honorine  had 
rejoined  Isidore  in  the  copses  of  La  Guerche.  He 
was  lying  on  a  bed  of  dead  leaves,  waiting  im- 
patiently,  partly   because   he   thought   she   would 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  45 

bring  him  something  to  eat,  or  some  coppers, 
partly  because  he  loved  her,  for  she  was  his  sweet- 
heart. It  was  he  who  had  seen  the  ladies  and 
gentlemen  from  the  chateau  on  their  way  to  the 
church,  and  had  immediately  sought  out  Honorine, 
to  give  her  time  to  reach  the  church  before  them, 
and  to  fall  into  a  trance. 

"  What  have  they  given  you  ?  "  he  demanded. 
"  Let  me  see." 

And,  as  she  had  brought  nothing,  he  struck  her, 
but  without  hurting  her  very  much.  In  return  she 
scratched  and  bit  him,  then  said : 

"  What's  that  for  ?  " 

"  Swear  that  they  didn't  give  you  anything  !  " 
he  said. 

She  swore,  and,  having  sucked  away  the  blood 
that  was  trickling  down  their  thin  arms,  they  were 
reconciled.  Then,  for  the  want  of  something 
better  to  do,  they  fell  back  upon  the  pleasure  that 
each  was  able  to  bestow  upon  the  other. 

Isidore,  whose  mother  was  a  widow,  a  bad 
woman  given  to  drink,  had  no  recognized  father. 
He  spent  all  his  time  in  the  woods,  and  nobody 
bothered  about  him.  Although  he  was  two  years 
younger  than  Honorine,  he  was  well  versed  in  the 
practices  of  love,  about  the  only  need  in  his  life  of 
which  he  found  no  lack,  under  the  trees  of  La 
Guerche,  Lenonville,  and  Brece.     His  love-making 


46  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

with  Honorine  was  only  by  way  of  killing  time, 
and  for  want  of  something  better  to  do.  Occasion- 
ally Honorine  would  be  roused  to  a  certain  amount 
of  interest,  but  she  could  not  attach  much  im- 
portance to  such  commonplace,  everyday  actions, 
and  a  rabbit,  a  bird,  or  an  uncommon-looking  insect, 
would  often  be  enough  to  change  the  entire  current 
of  their  thoughts. 

M.  de  Brece  returned  to  the  chateau  with  his 
guests.  The  cold  walls  of  the  hall  bristled  with  the 
evidences  of  massacre  ;  antlers  of  deer,  heads  of 
young  stags  and  of  old  veterans,  which,  in  spite  of 
the  taxidermist's  care,  were  moth-eaten,  and 
retained  in  their  staring  glass  eyes  something  of  the 
agonized  sweat  of  a  creature  at  bay,  equivalent  to 
human  tears. 

Horns,  antlers,  bleached  bones,  severed  heads, 
trophies,  by  means  of  which  the  victims  honoured 
their  illustrious  slayers,  the  noblemen  of  France, 
and  Bourbons  of  Naples  and  Spain.  Under  the 
great  staircase  stood  a  sort  of  amphibious  chariot, 
shaped  like  a  boat,  the  body  of  which  could  be 
removed,  and  was  used  for  the  purpose  of  crossing 
rivers  when  hunting.  It  was  looked  upon  as  sacred, 
because  it  had  once  been  used  by  exiled  kings. 

The  Abbe  Guitrel  carefully  placed  his  big 
cotton   umbrella    beneath   the   black   visage    of   a 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  47 

ferocious  wild  boar,  and  led  the  way  through  a 
door  on  the  left,  flanked  by  two  tortured-looking 
caryatides  by  Ducereau,  to  a  drawing-room,  where 
the  three  Brece  ladies,  who  had  been  the  first  to 
return,  were  already  sitting  with  their  friend  and 
neighbour,  Madame  de  Courtrai. 

Dressed  in  black,  owing  to  the  interminable 
series  of  deaths  in  their  own  and  the  Royal  Family, 
they  sat  there,  nunlike  and  rustic  in  their  extreme 
simplicity,  chatting  of  marriages  and  deaths,  of 
illnesses  and  their  remedies. 

On  the  painted  ceiling  above  them,  and  on  the 
panelled  walls,  amid  the  sombre  rows  of  portraits, 
one  caught  an  occasional  glimpse  of  a  grey-bearded 
Henri  IV  in  the  embrace  of  a  full-bosomed  Minerva; 
or  the  pale  face  of  Louis  XIII  in  close  juxtaposition 
to  the  heavy  Flemish  figures  of  Victory  and  Mercy 
in  loosely  flowing  robes ;  or,  again,  the  naked  body, 
brick-red  in  hue,  of  an  old  man.  Father  Time, 
sparing  the  fleurs  de  lis  ;  and  anywhere  and 
everywhere  the  dimpled  legs  of  little  boys  support- 
ing the  Brece  coat  of  arms  with  the  three  golden 
torches. 

All  the  while  the  dowager  duchess  was  busy 
knitting  black  woollen  scarves  for  the  poor.  Since 
those  far  off  days  when  she  had  embroidered  a 
counterpane  for  the  bed  at  Chambord  on  which 
the  king  was  to  sleep,  she  had  knitted  continuously, 


48  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

occupying  her  hands,  and  satisfying  her  heart 
withal. 

The  tables  and  consoles  were  covered  with 
photographs,  in  frames  of  all  colours  and  sizes, 
some  resembling  easels,  some  of  porcelain  or  plush, 
others  of  crystal,  nickel,  shagreen,  carved  wood  or 
stamped  leather-work.  There  were  some,  again,  like 
gilded  horse-shoes,  others  like  palettes  covered  with 
colours  and  brushes,  some  shaped  like  chestnut 
leaves  or  butterflies. 

In  this  assortment  of  frames  were  portraits  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  relations  by  blood  or 
by  marriage  ;  of  princes  belonging  to  the  house  of 
Bourbon,  of  Church  dignitaries,  of  the  Comte  de 
Chambord,  and  Pope  Pius  IX.  On  the  right  of  the 
fire-place  in  the  middle  of  an  old  console  supported 
by  gilded  Turks,  like  a  spiritual  father,  Monseigneur 
Chariot  smiled  all  over  his  broad  face  at  the  young 
soldiers  grouped  closely  around  him,  officers, 
brigadiers,  and  privates,  wearing  upon  their  heads, 
their  necks,  and  their  breasts  all  the  martial 
decoration  allowed  by  a  democratic  army  to  her 
cavalry.  He  smiled  at  young  men  dressed  in  cycling 
or  polo  kit  ;  he  smiled  at  young  girls.  Ladies 
covered  the  folding  tables,  ladies  of  all  ages,  some 
of  them  with  the  decided  features  of  men,  but  a 
few  among  them  quite  pretty. 

"'  Mame  '  de  Courtrai !  "  cried  M.  de  Brece,  as  he 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  49 

entered  the  room  behind  the  General.     "  How  are 
you,  dear  '  Mame  '  ?  " 

He  then  returned  to  the  conversation  he  had 
commenced  with  M.  Lerond  in  the  park,  and, 
drawing  him  aside  to  one  of  the  corners  of  the 
huge  room,  he  concluded  : 

"  For,  when  all's  said  and  done,  the  Army  is  all 
that  is  left  us.  All  that  formerly  made  up  the 
glory  and  strength  of  France  has  vanished,  leaving 
us  the  Army  alone.  The  Republican  Parliament 
has  overthrown  the  Government,  compromised  the 
magistracy,  and  corrupted  public  life.  The  Army 
alone  rears  its  head  above  the  ruins.  That  is  why 
I  insist  that  to  meddle  with  it  is  nothing  short  of 
sacrilege." 

He  stopped.  He  was  never  in  the  habit  of 
grappling  with  any  question,  and  usually  con- 
tented himself  with  generalities.  The  nobility  of 
his  sentiments  was  contested  by  none. 

Madame  de  Courtrai,  who  until  then  had  been 
lost  in  reflection  as  to  the  best  way  of  preparing 
cooHng  draughts,  suddenly  looked  up,  turning 
her  old  gamekeeper's  face  to  the  Duke,  and  re- 
marked : 

"  I  do  trust  you  have  written  to  the  proprietors 
of  that  paper  which  is  in  league  with  the  enemies  of 
France  and  the  Army,  saying  that  you  intend  to 
discontinue  it.    My  husband  sent  back  the  number 


50  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

containing  that  article.  You  know  the  one  1 
mean — that  disgraceful  article." 

"  My  nephew  writes  to  me,"  replied  the  Duke, 
"  that  a  notice  has  been  posted  up  at  his  club, 
insisting  that  the  subscription  to  it  shall  be  given 
up,  and  I  hear  that  signatures  are  coming  in  thick 
and  fast.  Nearly  all  the  members  fall  in  with  the 
suggestion,  reserving  the  right  to  buy  any  single 
number." 

"  The  Army  is  above  all  attack,"  said  M.  Lerond. 

General  Cartier  de  Chalmot  at  length  broke  the 
silence,  in  which,  until  then,  he  had  been  wrapped  : 

"  I  like  to  hear  you  say  that.  And  if,  like 
myself,  you  had  spent  the  greater  part  of  your 
life  among  soldiers,  you  would  be  agreeably  sur- 
prised to  note  the  qualities  of  endurance,  good 
discipline,  and  good  temper,  which  make  of  the 
French  trooper  a  first-class  implement  of  war.  I 
never  tire  of  repeating  it :  such  units  are  equal  to 
any  task.  With  the  authority  of  an  officer  whose 
life's  career  is  drawing  to  a  close,  I  maintain  that 
anyone  who  takes  the  trouble  to  inquire  into  the 
spirit  which  animates  the  French  Army  will  find  it 
worthy  of  the  highest  praise.  In  the  same  way,  it 
is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  testify  to  the  persevering  effort 
of  several  officers  of  high  standing  and  great  capa- 
city who  have  devoted  much  time  and  thought  to 
the  organization  of  the  Army,  and  I  declare  that 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  51 

their  efforts  have  been  crowned  with  brilliant 
success." 

In  a  lower  and  more  serious  voice  he  added : 

"  All  that  now  remains  for  me  to  say  is,  that  as  far 
as  the  men  are  concerned,  quality  is  to  be  preferred 
to  quantity,  and  what  should  be  aimed  at  is  the 
formation  of  crack  corps.  I  feel  certain  that  no 
capable  officer  would  contradict  such  an  assertion. 
My  last  military  will  and  testament  is  contained  in 
this  formula :  '  Quantity  is  nothing,  quality  is 
everything.'  I  might  add  that  unity  of  command 
is  indispensable  to  an  army,  and  that  a  great  body 
of  men  must  obey  one  unique,  sovereign,  and  im- 
mutable will,  and  one  only." 

He  ceased  speaking,  his  pale  eyes  full  of  tears. 
Confused,  inexplicable  feelings  filled  the  soul  of  the 
honest,  simple-minded  old  man,  who  in  former 
days  had  been  the  most  dashing  captain  of  the 
Imperial  Guard.  His  health  was  failing,  his 
strength  exhausted,  and  he  felt  himself  lost  amongst 
the  officers  of  the  modern  school,  whom  he  could 
not  understand. 

Madame  de  Courtrai,  who  did  not  care  for 
theories,  turned  her  fierce,  masculine  old  face 
towards  the  General : 

"  Well,  General,  as,  thank  God,  the  Army  is 
respected  by  every  one,  as  you  say  it  is  the  only 
force  that  keeps  us  together,  why  should  it  not  also 


52  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

rule  us  ?  Why  not  send  a  colonel  with  his  regiment 
to  the  Palais  Bourbon  and  the  Elysee ?  " 

She  stopped  short,  as  she  saw  the  clouded  brow 
of  the  General. 

The  Duke  beckoned  to  M.  Lerond. 

"  You  have  never  seen  the  library,  have  you, 
M.  Lerond  ?  I  will  show  it  to  you.  You  are  fond 
of  old  books,  and  I  am  sure  you  will  be  interested." 

Traversing  a  long,  bare  gallery,  the  ceiling  of 
which  was  covered  with  clumsy  painting,  depicting 
Louis  Xni  and  Apollo  destroying  the  enemies  of 
the  kingdom,  as  represented  by  Furies  and  Hydras, 
they  arrived  at  a  door  through  which  the  Duke 
ushered  the  counsel  for  the  defence  of  the 
religious  communities  into  the  room  where, 
in  1605,  Due  Guy,  Grand-Marshal  of  France 
and  governor  of  the  province,  had  founded  the 
library  for  the  solace  of  his  declining  years  and 
fortunes. 

It  was  a  square  room,  occupying  the  whole  of  the 
ground  floor  of  the  west  wing,  lighted  on  the  north, 
west,  and  south,  by  three  uncurtained  windows, 
offering  three  charming  and  magnificent  pictures  to 
the  eye.  Stretching  away  to  the  south  was  the 
lawn,  in  the  centre  of  which  w^as  a  marble  vase, 
with  a  pair  of  ring-doves  perching  upon  it.  The 
trees  of  the  park  were  visible,  bared  by  the  winter 
of  their  leaves,  and  in  the  purple  depths  of  the  dark 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  53 

walk  glimmered  the  white  statues  of  the  pool  of 
Galatea.  To  the  west  was  a  stretch  of  flat  country, 
a  wide  expanse  of  sky,  and  the  setting  sun,  which, 
Hke  a  mythological  egg  of  light  and  of  gold,  had 
broken  and  spread  its  glory  over  the  clouds.  To  the 
north  were  the  ploughed  red  earth  of  the  hills, 
the  slate  roofs  and  distant  smoke  of  Brece,  and  the 
delicate  pointed  steeple  of  the  little  church 
standing  out  in  the  cold,  clear  light. 

A  Louis  XIV  table,  two  chairs,  and  a  seventeenth- 
century  globe  with  a  wind-rose  relating  to  the  un- 
explored regions  of  the  Pacific  comprised  the 
only  furniture  of  this  severe-looking  room,  the 
walls  of  which  were  lined  from  floor  to  ceiling  with 
bookcases,  enclosed  by  wire  gratings.  Even  upon 
the  red  marble  mantelpiece  the  grey-painted  shelves 
encroached,  and  through  the  mesh  of  gilded  wire 
peeped  the  richly  decorated  backs  of  ancient 
volumes. 

"  The  library  was  founded  by  the  Marshal," 
said  M.  de  Brece.  "  His  grandson.  Due  Jean, 
added  many  treasures  to  it  during  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV,  and  it  was  he  who  fitted  it  up  as  you  see 
it  to-day.    It  has  not  been  much  altered  since." 

"  Have  you  a  catalogue  ?  "  inquired  M.  Lerond. 

The  Duke  said  that  he  had  not,  that  M.  de 
Terremondre,  who  was  a  great  lover  of  valuable 
books,  had  warmly  recommended  him  to  have  them 


54  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

catalogued,  but  he  had  never  yet  found  time  to 
have  it  done. 

He  opened  one  of  the  cases,  and  M.  Lerond  drew 
out  several  volumes  in  succession,  octavo,  quarto, 
and  folio,  bound  in  marbled,  stippled  or  tree-calf, 
parchment,  and  red  and  blue  morocco,  all  bearing 
on  their  covers  the  coat  of  arms  with  the  three 
torches  surmounted  by  a  ducal  crown.  M.  Lerond 
was  not  a  keen  book-lover,  but  on  opening  a  beauti- 
fully written  manuscript  on  Royal  Tithes,  pre- 
sented to  the  Marshal  by  Vauban,  his  astonishment 
and  admiration  knew  no  bounds. 

The  manuscript  was  further  embellished  with  a 
frontispiece,  besides  several  vignettes  and  tail- 
pieces. 

"  Are  these  original  drawings  ?  "  asked  M. 
Lerond. 

"  Very  probably,"  replied  M.  de  Brece. 

"  They  are  signed,"  went  on  M.  Lerond,  "  and 
I  think  I  can  decipher  the  name  of  Sebastian 
Leclerc." 

"  Maybe,"  answered  M.  de  Brece. 

These  priceless  shelves  contained,  as  M.  Lerond 
remarked,  books  by  Tillemont  on  Roman  and 
Church  history,  the  statute  book  of  the  province, 
and  innumerable  Fcedera  by  old  doctors  at  law  ; 
he  unearthed  works  on  theology,  on  controversy, 
and  on  hagiology,  long  genealogical  histories,  old 


THE   AMETHYST   RING  55 

editions  of  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  and  some  of 
those  enormous  books,  bigger  than  atlases,  written 
on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  a  king  or  his 
entry  into  Paris,  or  to  celebrate  his  convalescence  or 
his  victories. 

"  This  is  the  oldest  part  of  the  library,"  said 
M.  de  Brece,  "  the  Marshal's  collection.  Here," 
he  added,  opening  two  or  three  other  cases,  "  are 
the  additions  of  Due  Jean." 

"  Louis  XVI's  minister,  surnamed  the  '  Good 
Duke  '  ?  "  asked  M.  Lerond. 

"  Just  so,"  replied  M.  de  Brece. 

Due  Jean's  collection  took  up  all  that  side  of  the 
wall  containing  the  mantelpiece  and  also  the  side 
looking  out  upon  the  little  town.  M.  Lerond  read 
out  the  titles  stamped  in  gold  between  two  bands, 
that  decorated  the  backs  of  the  volumes :  Ency- 
clopedie  methodique  ;  (Euvres  de  Montesquieu ; 
(Euvres  de  Voltaire  ;  (Euvres  de  Rousseau,  de 
Vahbe  Mably,  de  Condillac  ;  and  Histoire  des 
Etablissements  Europeens  dans  les  Indes,  by  Raynal. 
He  then  glanced  through  the  lesser  poets  and 
romancers  with  the  vignettes  of  Grecourt,  Dorat, 
and  Saint-Lambert ;  the  Boccaccio  illustrated  by 
Marillier,  and  the  edition  of  La  Fontaine,  pub- 
lished by  the  "  Fermiers  Generaux." 

"  The  pictures  are  rather  free,"  remarked  the 
Duke.    "  I  have  been  compelled  to  destroy  certain 


56  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

works  of  the  same  period,  the  illustrations  of  which 
were  really  licentious." 

M.  Lerond,  however,  discovered,  side  by  side 
with  these  frivolous  books,  a  lengthy  series  of 
political  and  philosophical  works,  essays  on  slavery, 
printed  accounts  of  the  American  War  of  Independ- 
ence. He  opened  Voeux  d'un  solitaire^  and  saw  that 
the  margins  were  covered  with  notes  in  Due  Jean's 
handwriting.     He  read  aloud  : 

"  The  author  is  right  ;  man  is  naturally  good,  and 
the  mistaken  social  laws  alone  are  responsible  for  his 
evil  deeds." 

"  That,"  he  added,  "  is  what  your  great-great- 
grandfather wrote  in  1790." 

"  How  very  curious ! "  remarked  the  Duke,  re- 
placing the  book  upon  its  shelf.  Then,  opening 
the  cases  upon  the  north  side  of  the  room,  he  said : 

"  These  are  the  books  collected  by  my  grand- 
father, who  was  page  to  Charles  X." 

Here  M.  Lerond  discovered,  bound  in  sombre 
sheepskin,  tan  calf  and  black  shagreen,  the  works  of 
Chateaubriand,  a  series  of  "  Memoires "  on  the 
Revolution,  the  Histories  of  Anquetil,  Guizot,  and 
Augustin  Thierry  ;  La  Harpe's  Cours  de  litterature, 
Marchangy's  Gaule  poetique,  and  the  Discours  of 
Laine. 

Close  to  this  literature  dealing  with  the  Restora- 
tion, and  the  Government  of  July,  was  a  shelf  on 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  57 

which  lay  two  or  three  tattered  papers  on  Pupe 
Pius  IX  and  temporal  power,  a  few  dilapidated 
novels,  a  pamphlet  in  praise  of  Joan  of  Arc,  which 
had  been  read  by  Monseigneur  Chariot  in  the 
church  of  Saint-Exupere  on  the  8th  of  June,  1890, 
and  a  few  religious  books  written  for  ladies  of  high 
degree.  This  was  the  contribution  of  the  late  Duke, 
member  of  the  National  Assembly  in  1871,  and  of 
the  present  Due  de  Brece,  to  the  library  created 
by  the  marshal  in  1605. 

*'  I  must  lock  up  these  books,"  said  M.  de  Brece. 
"  I  cannot  be  too  careful,  for  my  sons  are  growing 
up,  and  at  any  moment  may  be  seized  with  the 
desire  to  come  and  examine  the  library  for  them- 
selves. There  are  books  among  these  which  should 
never  fall  into  the  hands  of  any  young  man,  nor  of 
any  self-respecting  woman,  no  matter  what  her  age 
may  be." 

And  so,  in  his  honest  zeal  for  doing  good,  and 
in  the  happy  conviction  that  he  was  imprisoning 
lust,  doubt,  impiety,  and  evil  thoughts,  he  turned 
his  key  upon  them  ;  and  this  sentiment,  which, 
when  analysed,  had  its  share  of  simple  complacency 
and  the  secret  jealousy  of  an  ignorant  man,  was 
not  without  its  beauty  and  purity  also. 

Having  thrust  the  bunch  of  keys  into  his  pocket 
again,  the  Duke  turned  a  satisfied  countenance  to 
M.  Lerond. 


58  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  Overhead,"  he  said,  "is  the  King's  room.  The 
old  inventories  give  this  name  to  all  the  upper  story. 
The  room  properly  so-called,  however,  contains  the 
bed  in  which  Louis  XHI  slept,  and  it  is  still  hung 
with  the  same  silk  embroidery.  It  is  well  worth  a 
visit." 

M.  Lerond  was  so  tired  that  he  could  hardly 
stand.  His  legs,  accustomed  all  the  year  round  to 
be  tucked  away  under  a  desk,  had  had  hard  work 
to  carry  him  through  the  walk  on  the  slippery 
paths  of  the  park,  the  tramp  round  the  stables, 
and  the  stroll  along  the  woods  to  the  church ;  they 
felt  limp  and  weak,  and  his  feet  were  hot  and  painful, 
for  the  poor  man,  anxious  to  do  the  right  thing, 
had,  unfortunately,  put  on  patent-leather  boots. 
Casting  an  uneasy  glance  at  the  ceiling,  he  stam- 
mered : 

"  It  grows  late.  Would  it  not  be  better  to  join 
the  ladies  in  the  drawing-room  ?  " 

M.  de  Brece  was  only  adamant  with  regard  to  the 
visit  to  the  stables ;  as  far  as  the  remainder  of  his 
property  was  concerned  he  was  reasonable  enough. 

"  Yes,  the  light  is  going,"  he  said.  "  We  will  see 
the  rest  another  time.  To  the  right,  M.  Lerond  ; 
to  the  right,  please." 

"  What  walls  !  "  cried  the  ex-deputy,  as  he 
reached  the  doorway.  "  What  tremendously  thick 
walls!" 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  59 

His  thin  face,  the  calm  and  cold  expression  of 
which  had  not  altered  one  whit  at  the  sight  of  the 
hunting  trophies  in  the  hall,  the  historic  paintings 
in  the  drawing-room,  the  rich  tapestries,  the 
magnificent  ceiling  of  the  gallery,  and  the  beautiful 
books  with  their  tooled  morocco  bindings,  now 
grew  animated,  interested,  and  full  of  admiration. 
He  had  at  last  discovered  something  to  stir  and 
amaze  him,  something  which  afforded  him  both 
food  for  thought  and  mental  satisfaction — a 
wall  !  His  legal  mind,  struck  down  in  its  flower 
at  the  time  of  the  new  regulations,  and  his  heart, 
too  soon  bereaved  of  the  joy  of  administering 
punishment,  rejoiced  at  the  sight  of  a  wall,  a  deaf, 
dumb,  sombre  thing,  which  recalled  to  his  eager 
mind  thoughts  of  prison  cells,  of  sentences  and 
public  prosecutions,  of  codes,  law's,  justice,  and 
morals — a  wall  ! 

"Yes,"  replied  the  Duke,  "the  wall  at  this  par- 
ticular spot  between  the  gallery  and  the  next  wing 
is  tremendously  thick.  It  is  the  outer  wall  of 
the  old  castle,   built  in   1405." 

M.  Lerond  gazed  lingeringly  at  the  wall,  measured 
it  with  his  eyes,  felt  it  with  his  little,  crooked, 
yellow  hands,  studied,  worshipped,  loved,  and 
possessed  it. 

"  Mesdames,"  he  said  to  the  ladies  on  his  return 
to  the  drawing-room,  "  the  Duke  has  very  kindly 


6o  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

shown  me  his  wonderful  Hbrary.  On  my  way 
back  I  noticed  the  remarkable  wall  that  separates 
the  gallery  from  the  wing.  I  don't  think  there  is 
anything  to  equal  it  even  at  Chambord." 

But  neither  the  Brece  ladies  nor  Madame  de 
Courtrai  was  listening  ;  their  united  attention 
was  given  to  another  matter. 

"  Jean,"  cried  the  Duchess  to  her  husband, 
"  Jean,  look  at  this  !  "  And  she  pointed  to  a 
red  leather  case  lying  on  the  table  near  the  lamp 
which  a  servant  had  just  brought  in.  The  case 
was  round  in  shape,  topped  with  a  kind  of  knob 
like  a  thimble,  and  divided  at  the  base  in  the 
shape  of  a  clover  leaf.  A  visiting  card  lay  beside 
it.  All  around  the  table  were  heaps  of  tissue 
paper,  that  made  one  think  of  little  white  dogs 
tied  up  with  pale  blue  ribbon, 

"  Do  look,  Jdan  !  " 

The  Abbe  Guitrel,  who  was  standing  near  the 
table,  opened  the  case  with  reverent  hands,  and 
displayed  a  golden  ciborium. 

"  Who  sent  it  ?  "  asked  M.  de  Brece. 

"  Look  at  the  card.  I  am  horribly  worried — 
I  don't  know  what  to  do." 

M.  de  Brece  put  on  his  glasses,  picked  up  the 
card,  and  read  aloud  : 

Baron NE  Jules  de  Bonmont. 
For  Notre-Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  6i 

He  replaced  the  card  upon  the  table,  took  off  his 
glasses  and  murmured : 

"  How  very  annoying  !  " 

"A  ciborium,  a  beautiful  ciborium,"  said  the 
Abbe. 

"  When  I  used  to  sing  in  the  choir  as  a  boy," 
said  the  General,  "  I  always  heard  the  Fathers  call 
it  a  custodial." 

"  Yes,  you  can  call  it  either  a  custodial  or  a 
ciborium,"  replied  the  Abbe.  "  These  are  the 
names  given  to  the  receptacles  which  hold  the 
reserved  Eucharist.  But  the  custodial  is  formed 
like  a  cylinder  and  has  a  conical  cover." 

With  frowning  brow  M.  de  Brece  stood  wrapped 
in  thought ;   then  with  a  deep  sigh  he  said : 

"  Why  should  Madame  de  Bonmont,  who  is  a 
Jewess,  give  a  ciborium  to  Notre-Dame-des-Belles- 
Feuilles  ?  Why  have  these  people  a  mania  for 
forcing  themselves  into  our  churches  ?  " 

The  Abbe  Guitrel,  with  his  fingers  thrust  into 
the  sleeves  of  his  coat,  moistened  his  lips  and  said 
gently : 

"  Allow  me  to  point  out,  Monsieur,  that  Madame 
Jules  de  Bonmont  is  a  Catholic." 

"  Nonsense  !  "  cried  the  Duke.  "  She  is  an 
Austrian  Jewess,  and  her  maiden  name  was  Wall- 
stein.  The  real  name  of  her  late  husband,  the 
Baron  de  Bonmont,  was  Gutenberg." 


62  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  Allow  me,  Monsieur,"  said  the  Abbe.  "  I 
do  not  deny  that  the  Baronne  de  Bonmont  is 
of  Jewish  descent.  What  I  mean  is  that  she 
has  been  converted  and  baptized,  and  is  therefore 
a  Christian.  She  is  a  good  Christian,  I  might  add, 
and  gives  largely  to  our  charities,  in  fact,  she  is  an 
example  to " 

"  I  am  acquainted  with  your  ideas,"  interrupted 
the  Duke,  "  and  I  respect  them  as  I  respect  your 
cloth.  But  to  me  a  converted  Jew  remains  a 
Jew;  I  cannot  make  any  distinction  between  the 
two." 

"  Neither  can  I,"  said  Madame  de  Brece. 

"  To  a  certain  extent  your  feelings  are  legitimate, 
Madame  la  Duchesse,"  repHed  the  Abbe.  "  But  you 
cannot  be  unaware  of  the  teaching  of  the  Church, 
that  the  curse  pronounced  against  the  Jews  was 
inspired  by  their  crime,  and  not  their  race,  and  that 
therefore  the  attendant  results  cannot  affect  them 
if " 

"  It  is  heavy,"  said  the  Duke,  lifting  the  ciborium 
from  its  case,  and  holding  it  out. 

"  I  am  most  annoyed,"  said  the  Duchess. 

"  It  is  very  heavy  !  "  repeated  the  Duke. 

"  And,  what  is  more,"  added  the  Abbe,  "  it  is  a 
beautiful  piece  of  work,  and  possesses  the  refined 
characteristics  which  are,  so  to  speak,  the  seal  and 
stamp  of  the  work  of  Rondonneau  the  younger. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  63 

None  but  the  Archbishop's  goldsmith  could  have 
displayed  such  judgment  in  the  selection  of  a  model 
from  traditional  Christian  art,  or  have  reproduced 
the  shape  and  decoration  with  such  skill  and  fidelity. 
This  ciborium  is  a  work  of  the  highest  merit,  and  is 
in  the  style  of  the  thirteenth  century." 

"  The  bowl  and  cover  are  in  solid  gold,"  said 
M.  de  Brece. 

"  According  to  liturgical  regulations  the  bowl  of 
the  ciborium  must  be  of  gold,  or,  at  any  rate,  of 
silver,  gilded  inside,"  said  the  Abbe. 

M.  de  Brece,  who  was  holding  it  upside  down, 
remarked : 

"  The  foot  is  hollow." 

"  That's  a  good  thing  !  "  cried  the  Duchess. 

The  Abbe  Guitrel  looked  lovingly  at  the  work  of 
Rondonneau  the  younger. 

"  There  is  no  doubt  about  it,"  he  said,  "  it  is 
thirteenth  century,  and  a  better  period  could  not 
have  been  selected.  The  thirteenth  century  is  the 
golden  age  of  this  particular  kind  of  work.  At  that 
epoch  the  ciborium  was  made  in  the  beautiful  shape 
of  a  pomegranate,  which  you  recognize  in  this 
delicious  example.  The  firm,  strong  foot  is  further 
enriched  with  enamels  and  inset  with  precious 
stones." 

"  Mercy  upon  us  !  precious  stones  !  "  cried  the 
Duchess. 


64  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  Figures  of  angels  and  prophets  are  finely 
chased  on  the  lozenge-shaped  panels,  giving  the 
most  delightful  effect  to  the  whole." 

"  That  Bonmont  was  a  rogue,"  said  Madame  de 
Courtrai  suddenly.  "  He  was  a  thief ;  and  his 
widow  has  not  yet  made  restitution." 

"  You  see  that  she  is  beginning  to  do  so,  how- 
ever," said  the  Duke,  pointing  to  the  shining 
ciborium. 

"  What  shall  we  do  ?  "  asked  the  Duchess. 

"  We  cannot  return  her  gift,"  said  the  Duke. 

"  Why  not  ?  "  asked  his  mother. 

"  Well,  mother,  because  it  is  impossible." 

"  Then  we've  got  to  keep  it  ?  "  asked  the  Duchess. 

"  Well — yes,  I  suppose  so." 

"  And  thank  her  ?  " 

"  What  else  can  we  do  ?  " 

"  Don't  you  agree  with  me.  General  ?  " 

"  It  would  have  been  fitter,"  said  the  General, 
"  if  this  lady,  who  is  a  stranger  to  you,  had  refrained 
from  making  you  a  present.  But  there  is  no  reason 
to  respond  to  her  civility  with  an  insult." 

Taking  the  ciborium  in  his  venerable  hands, 
the  Abbe  Guitrel  said : 

"  Notre-Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles  will,  I  feel  sure, 
look  with  kindness  upon  this  gift,  presented  by  a 
pious  soul  to  the  tabernacle  of  her  altar." 

"  But,  hang  it  all,"   put  in  the  Duke,  "  I  am 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  65 

Notre-Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles  in  this  case.  If 
Madame  de  Bonmont  and  young  Bonmont  want 
to  be  invited  to  my  house — and  they  certainly 
will  want  to — I  shall  be  obliged  to  receive  them 
now." 


CHAPTER  III 

N  their  efforts  to  escape  the  sudden 
shower  that  had  overtaken  them 
outside  the  ramparts  of  the  castle, 
Madame  Jules  de  Bonmont  and 
Madame  Hortha  ran  along  the  sentry- 
path  up  to  the  gate  house,  upon  the  debased  vault 
of  which  could  be  seen  the  peacock,  emblem  of 
the  extinct  house  of  Paves.  M.  de  Terremondre 
and  Baron  Wallstein  soon  caught  them  up,  and 
the  four  of  them  stood  still,  trying  to  regain  their 
breath. 

"  Where  is  the  Abbe  ?  "  asked  Madame  de  Bon- 
mont. "  Arthur,  did  you  leave  the  Abbe  sheltering 
by  the  hedge  ?  " 

Baron  Wallstein  told  his  sister  that  the  Abbe  was 
coming  along  behind  them. 

And  soon  they  saw  the  Abbe  Guitrel  walking  up 
the  stone  steps,  damp  but  cheerful.  He  alone  had 
managed  to  display  a  perfect  dignity  at  the  sudden 
alarm,  and  had  preserved  the  calm  suitable  to  his 
years  and  his  corpulence ;  he  had,  in  fact,  main- 
tained a  truly  episcopal  solemnity. 

66 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  e-j 

The  race  had  deepened  the  roses  in  Madame  de 
Bonmont's  cheeks  ;  her  full  bosom  rose  and  fell 
under  her  light  blouse,  as  she  stood  drawing  her 
skirts  tightly  around  her  plump  hips.  In  her  rich 
maturity,  with  her  disordered  hair,  lustrous  eyes, 
and  ripe  lips — a  sort  of  Viennese  Erigone — she  re- 
minded one  of  a  golden  cluster  of  juicy  grapes. 

"  Are  you  wet,  M.  I'Abbe  ?  "  she  inquired,  in 
that  rather  coarse  voice  of  hers,  so  much  less  sweet 
than  her  lips. 

The  Abbe  removed  his  wide-brimmed  hat,  the 
dusty  pile  of  which  was  spotted  with  rain,  looked 
with  his  little  grey  eyes  at  each  member  of  the 
breathless  group  scared  by  a  few  drops  of  rain, 
and  replied,  not  without  a  certain  gentle  slyness : 

"  I  am  wet,  but  not  out  of  breath,"  adding, 
"  It's  nothing  but  a  harmless  shower,  the  rain  has 
not  even  penetrated  my  coat." 

"  Let  us  go  in,"  said  Madame  de  Bonmont. 

This  was  her  home,  this  chateau  of  Montil,  built 
in  1508  by  Bernard  de  Paves,  Grand-Master  of 
Artillery,  for  Nicolette  de  Vaucelles,  his  fourth  wife. 

"  The  house  of  Paves  flourished  for  nine  hun- 
dred years,"  writes  Perrin  du  Verdier,  in  the  first 
volume  of  his  Tresor  des  genealogies.  "  And  the 
Royal  Families  of  Europe  were  all  connected  by 
marriage  at  some  time  or  other  with  the  said  house, 
more  especially  the  kings  of  Spain,  England,  Sicily 


68  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

and  Jerusalem,  the  dukes  of  Brittany,  Alen^on, 
Vendome,  and  others,  as  well  as  the  Orsini,  the 
Colonnas  and  the  Cornaros."  And  Perrin  du 
Verdier  discourses  both  lengthily  and  complacently 
on  the  celebrity  of  this  "  tant  indite  maison " 
which  gave  to  the  Church  eighteen  cardinals  and 
two  popes,  and  to  the  throne  of  France  three  con- 
stables, six  marshals  and  a  king's  mistress. 

From  the  reign  of  Louis  XH  down  to  the  Revolu- 
tion the  heads  of  the  elder  branch  of  Paves  had 
resided  at  the  chateau  of  Montil.  Philippe  VHI, 
prince  of  Paves,  lord  of  Montil,  Toche,  Les  Fonts, 
Rougeain,  La  Victoire,  Berlogue,  and  other  places, 
first  Lord  in  Waiting  to  the  King,  was  the  last  of 
that  branch  of  the  family.  He  died  in  1795,  in 
London,  whither  he  had  emigrated,  to  set  up  as  a 
perruquier  in  a  little  shop  in  Whitecross  Street. 
His  estates,  which  had  been  totally  neglected  during 
his  lifetime,  were,  at  the  time  of  the  Directoire, 
sold  as  national  property,  and  divided  among  a 
number  of  peasants  who  lived  there,  and  founded 
a  line  of  bourgeois.  The  rogues  who  had  acquired 
the  chateau  in  exchange  for  a  mere  handful  of  paper 
money,  decided  in  181 3  to  demolish  it.  However, 
soon  after  the  destruction  of  the  Galerie  des  Faunes, 
their  work  of  demolition  was  interrupted  and  never 
completed.  For  two  years  the  country  people 
helped  themselves,  when  so  inclined,  to  the  lead 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  69 

roofing  of  the  chateau.  In  181 5  M.  de  Reu,  an  old 
officer  of  the  King's  navy  and  a  secret  agent  of  the 
Comte  de  Provence  in  Holland — it  is  said  that  he 
was  also  an  accomplice  of  George  in  the  affair  of  the 
Rue  Saint-Nicaise — desirous  of  ending  his  days  in 
his  native  country,  managed  to  extort  a  few  hundred 
crowns  from  the  ungrateful  Prince,  and  purchased 
the  chateau  of  Montil. 

There,  poor  and  unsociable,  he  with  his  eleven 
children,  both  legitimate  and  illegitimate,  lived 
within  the  walls  which  threatened  to  fall  in  and 
bury  them  all  beneath  the  ruins.  After  his  death, 
one  of  his  daughters,  who  never  married,  lived  there, 
and  filled  those  halls  of  beauty  and  glory  with 
plums  picked  in  the  castle  gardens,  which  she  placed 
there  to  dry.  In  the  year  1875  Mademoiselle  Reu, 
aged  ninety-nine  years  and  three  months,  was  found 
one  winter's  morning  lying  dead  upon  a  torn  and 
rotting  mattress,  in  the  room  adorned  with  mono- 
grams, devices,  and  emblems  in  the  honour  of 
Nicolette  de  Vaucelles. 

At  this  time  Baron  Jules  de  Bonmont,  son  of 
Nathan,  son  of  Seligmann,  son  of  Simon,  came  over 
from  Austria,  where  he  had  negotiated  the  loans 
during  the  dark  days  of  the  Empire.  He  now  made 
France  the  headquarters  of  his  financial  opera- 
tions, bringing  to  the  Republic  the  benefit  of 
his  financial  genius.    M.  Laprat-Teulet,  a  member 


70  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

of  Parliament,  who  at  that  time  represented  the 
district  of  Montil,  became  one  of  the  first  and 
surest  of  his  friends  and  alUes.  He  discovered  that, 
the  era  of  ideas  and  strife  having  gone  by,  the  time 
had  come  for  big  business  deals.  He  bestowed  upon 
the  Baron  his  warmest  sympathy  and  his  extremely 
useful  devotion,  and  the  Baron,  on  his  side,  was 
always  ready  to  commend  Laprat-Teulet  as  a  clever 
fellow. 

It  was  by  the  advice  of  Laprat-Teulet  that 
Baron  Jules  bought  the  chateau  of  Montil.  It 
was  then  a  dignified  and  beautiful  ruin,  well  worth 
restoring  and  preserving.  The  task  of  its  restoration 
was  confided  to  a  pupil  of  Viollet-le-Duc,  M. 
Quatrebarbe,  the  diocesan  architect.  He  removed 
all  the  old  stone  and  replaced  it  with  new.  In  the 
new  building  the  Baron,  who  astonished  his  political 
friends  by  his  taste  in  art,  promptly  installed  his 
collection  of  pictures,  furniture,  and  armoury,  all  of 
which  were  of  enormous  value. 

"  And  thus  the  chateau  of  Montil,"  to  use  the 
words  of  M.  de  Terremondre,  "was  preserved  to 
the  lovers  of  our  national  art,  and  transformed  into 
a  marvellous  museum  by  the  care  and  generosity  of 
a  great  seignior,  who,  at  the  same  time,  was  a  great 
connoisseur." 

The  Baron  was  not  long  permitted  to  enjoy  the 
proud  possession  of  Montil,  with  its  towers  orna- 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  71 

mented  with  medallions,  its  tracery  staircase,  and 
the  delicately  carved  woodwork  of  its  interior. 
After  reaching  the  zenith  of  his  financial  prosperity, 
he  died  suddenly  of  an  attack  of  apoplexy,  just  on 
the  eve  of  all  the  ruin  and  scandal  that  followed. 
He  died  in  possession  of  all  his  wealth,  leaving 
behind  him  a  gay  young  widow,  and  a  boy,  who, 
with  his  short,  squat  figure,  lowering  brows,  and 
already  pitiless  heart,  closely  resembled  his  father. 
Madame  de  Bonmont  had  kept  Montil,  of  which 
she  was  very  fond. 

She  led  Madame  Hortha  to  the  spiral  staircase, 
the  interlacing  stonework  of  which  repeated  inter- 
minably in  its  intertwinings  the  emblematic  peacock 
of  Bernard  de  Paves  tied  by  the  foot  to  the  lute  of 
Nicolette  de  Vaucelles.  Then,  picking  up  her  skirts 
with  a  sudden,  abrupt  gesture,  not  without  a  charm 
of  its  own,  she  followed  her.  M.  de  Terremondre, 
President  of  the  Archaeological  Society,  and  formerly 
a  great  lady-killer,  came  closely  behind  her  with  an 
eye  upon  the  rhythmic  movement  of  her  engaging 
figure. 

At  the  age  of  forty  she  had  retained  the  wish  and 
the  capacity  to  please,  and  M.  de  Terremondre 
thoroughly  appreciated  this,  for  he  was  a  susceptible 
man  ;  yet  he  did  not  attempt  to  make  love  to  her, 
knowing  that  she  herself  was  greatly  infatuated  with 


72  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Raoul  Marcien,  a  handsome,  choleric  man  who  had 
fallen  into  disrepute. 

"  Let  us  go  into  the  armoury,"  said  Madame 
de  Bonmont,  pushing  open  the  door.  "  It  is 
warmed  with  hot-air  pipes." 

It  was  true  that  the  armoury  was  so  heated. 
Amidst  the  grotesque  encaustic  tiles  of  M.  Quatre- 
barbe,  designed  after  the  manner  of  the  old  paving 
he  had  torn  up,  the  hot-air  gratings  opened  their 
bright  brazen  mouths. 

Madame  de  Bonmont  was  careful  to  invite  the 
Abbe  Guitrel  to  a  seat  near  one  of  the  radiators,  and 
to  ask  him  if  his  feet  were  damp,  and  whether  he 
would  not  have  a  glass  of  something  hot. 

Under  the  ribbed  vault  of  its  roof,  the  huge 
room  glittered  with  a  display  of  iron  and  steel  such 
as  not  even  the  Armeria  in  Madrid  could  boast. 
One  or  two  of  the  financier's  brilliant  business  coups 
had  resulted  in  a  collection  of  armour  not  to  be 
equalled  by  that  of  Spitzer  himself. 

Examples  of  the  three  centuries  of  plate  armour 
were  there  in  every  form  known  to  Europe. 
On  the  gigantic  chimney-piece,  guarded  by 
two  Brabangons  in  magnificent  cuisses,  a  con- 
dottiere's  suit  of  mail  bestrode  that  of  a  horse, 
with  open  chamfron,  horse  muzzle,  mane-guard, 
tail-guard,  and  poitrel.  The  walls  were  covered 
from  floor  to  ceiling  with  dazzling  suits  of  armour, 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  73 

casques,  basinets,  helmets,  salades,  morions,  skull 
caps,  iron  hats,  hauberks,  coats  of  armour,  brigan- 
tines,  greaves,  solerets,  and  spurs. 

From  the  shields,  bucklers,  and  targes,  of  all 
descriptions,  radiated  flambergs,  Konigsmark 
swords,  partizans,  gisarmes,  war-scythes,  two-edged 
swords,  Toledo  rapiers,  poniards,  stylets,  and 
daggers. 

All  around  the  room  stood  phantom  figures 
clothed  in  polished  and  unpolished  steel ;  in  steel, 
engraved,  inlaid,  chased,  and  damascened.  Maxi- 
miliennes  with  fluted  and  bowed  cuirasses,  puffed 
and  bell-shaped  suits  of  armour,  the  "  polichinelle  " 
of  Henri  HI,  and  the  "  ecrevisse  "  of  Louis  XIII. 
Panoplies  of  war  that  had  adorned  French,  Spanish, 
Italian,  German,  and  English  princes ;  coats  of 
mail  worn  by  knights,  captains,  sergeants,  cross- 
bowmen,  reiters,  veterans,  by  soldiers  of  fortune 
from  every  country  in  Europe,  by  mercenaries  and 
Switzers. 

Here  was  steel  armour  that  had  figured  at  the 
Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold  ;  at  the  jousts  and 
tourneys  of  England,  France,  and  Germany ; 
armour  from  Poitiers,  Verneuil,  Granson,  Fornovo, 
Ceresole,  Pavia,  Ravenna,  Pultava,  and  CuUoden  ; 
worn  by  nobles  or  mercenaries,  by  knights  or 
caitiffs,  by  victor  or  vanquished,  by  friend  or  foe — 
all  collected  by  the  Baron  and  displayed  in  this  room. 


74  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

After  dinner,  while  pouring  out  the  coffee, 
Madame  de  Bonmont  offered  no  sugar  to  the  Abbe, 
who  always  took  it,  and  gave  it  to  Baron  Wallstein, 
who  suffered  from  diabetes  and  had  to  be  very 
careful  in  his  diet.  She  did  not  do  this  with  any 
malice  aforethought,  but  her  mind  was  full  of 
other  matters  that  engaged  her  undivided  attention. 
Her  depression,  which,  simple  soul  that  she  was, 
she  was  incapable  of  hiding,  was  caused  by  a  telegram 
from  Paris,  worded  with  a  twofold  meaning  ;  one 
literal  and  commonplace,  obvious  to  all,  referring 
to  a  delay  in  forwarding  some  plants ;  the  other, 
the  real  and  ingenious  one,  understood,  to  her 
unhappiness,  by  herself  alone,  indicated  that  her 
lover  could  not  come  to  Montil  but  was  in  dire 
straits  and  forced  to  remain  in  Paris. 

It  was  nothing  new  for  Raoul  Marcien  to  be 
in  need  of  money.  Since  he  attained  his  majority, 
fifteen  years  previously,  he  had  just  managed  to 
keep  himself  going  by  a  series  of  bold  and  clever 
coups.  But  this  year,  his  difficulties,  which  had 
continued  to  increase  and  multiply,  were  positively 
appalling. 

Madame  de  Bonmont  was  nearly  always  worried 
and  depressed  about  him  and  his  affairs,  for  she 
loved  him  truly  and  tenderly  with  all  her  soul  and 
with  all  her  body. 

"  Two  lumps  for  you,  M.  de  Terremondre  ?  " 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  75 

Yes,  she  adored  her  Raoul,  her  Kara,  with  all  the 
strength  of  her  placid  soul.  She  would  have  liked 
him  to  be  loving  and  faithful,  pure-minded  and 
studious.  He  was  not  what  she  wished  him  to 
be,  and  in  her  grief  and  fear  of  losing  him,  she 
regularly  burned  candles  for  his  benefit  in  the 
church  of  Saint-Antoine. 

M.  de  Terremondre,  who  was  by  way  of  being 
a  connoisseur,  examined  the  pictures.  They  were 
all  modern  works  of  art,  paintings  by  Daubigny, 
Theodore  Rousseau,  Jules  Dupre,  Chintreuil,  Diaz, 
and  Corot,  and  consisted  of  mournful-looking 
pools  bordered  by  deep  woods,  dew- brushed 
meadows,  village  streets,  forest  glades  bathed  in  the 
golden  light  of  the  setting  sun,  and  willows  emerging 
from  the  silver  mists  of  morning.  The  prevailing 
tones  were  white,  fawn,  green,  blue,  and  grey.  In 
massive  gilt  frames  they  stood  out  against  the 
crimson  damask  hangings  that  accorded  ill  with 
the  gigantic  Renaissance  chimney-piece,  with  the 
loves  of  the  nymphs  and  the  metamorphoses  of  the 
gods  sculptured  in  the  stone.  The  pictures  un- 
doubtedly marred  the  effect  of  the  wonderful  old 
ceiling,  the  painted  compartments  of  which  re- 
produced in  infinite  variety  the  peacock  of  Bernard 
de  Paves  tied  by  the  foot  to  the  lute  of  Nicolette 
de  Vaucelles. 

"  That's  a  fine  Millet,"  said  M.  de  Terremondre, 


-](>  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

coming  to  a  standstill  before  a  goosegirl,  whose 
figure  stood  out,  terrible  in  its  rustic  solemnity, 
against  a  background  of  pale  gold. 

"  It's  a  pretty  picture,"  answered  Baron  Wallstein. 
"  I  have  the  same  thing  at  my  house  in  Vienna,  but 
mine  is  a  shepherd,  not  a  goosegirl.  I  don't  know 
what  my  brother  gave  for  this  one."  Cup  in  hand, 
he  began  to  stroll  round  the  gallery.  "  This  Jules 
Dupre  cost  my  brother-in-law  50,000  francs ;  this 
Theodore  Rousseau  60,000,  and  thisCorot  100,000." 

"  I  am  acquainted  with  the  views  of  the  late 
Baron  in  regard  to  pictures,"  replied  M.  de  Terre- 
mondre,  following  the  Baron  round  the  room. 
"  One  day  he  met  me  going  down  the  staircase  of 
the  Hotel  des  Ventes,  with  a  little  picture  under 
my  arm.  He  caught  hold  of  my  sleeve,  as  he 
was  fond  of  doing,  and  said,  '  What  are  you  carry- 
ing off  there  ? '  With  the  satisfied  pride  of  the 
complacent  dabbler  in  art  I  replied,  '  A  Ruisdael,  M. 
de  Bonmont,  a  genuine  Ruisdael.  It  has  been  en- 
graved and  I  happen  to  have  a  print  in  my  port- 
folio.' '  What  did  you  give  for  your  Ruisdael  ?  ' 
'  The  sale  was  in  a  dark  room  on  the  ground  floor 
and  the  dealer  did  not  know  what  he  was  selling. 
Thirty  francs  !  '  " 

"  '  What  a  pity  !  What  a  pity  !  '  he  ejaculated, 
and,  seeing  my  surprise,  gave  another  tug  at  my 
sleeve.     '  My  dear  M.  de  Terremondre,  you  ought 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  ^'] 

to  have  given  10,000  francs  for  it  ;  if  you  had 
paid  as  much  as  that  it  would  have  been  worth 
30,000  francs  to  you.  The  Httle  picture  only 
cost  you  thirty  francs  and  will  never  fetch  a  high 
price,  say  twenty-five  louis  at  the  most.  The 
value  of  a  thing  cannot  rise  at  a  jump  from  thirty 
francs  to  30,000  !  '  Ah  !  "  concluded  M.  de 
Terremondre,  "  the  Baron  was  a  clever  man  !  " 

"  He  was  indeed,"  replied  Wallstein,  "  and  he 
also  liked  taking  a  rise  out  of  people." 

The  two  cronies  looked  up,  and  saw,  right  before 
their  eyes,  the  very  Baron  they  had  been  discussing, 
the  man  who  had  been  so  clever  all  his  life.  There 
he  was,  painted  by  Delaunay,  amongst  a  lot  of 
costly  pictures,  his  cunning  animal-like  face  leering 
out  of  a  glittering  frame. 

Madame  de  Bonmont  and  the  Abbe,  seated  to- 
gether in  the  huge  chimney  corner  before  the  fire, 
were  chatting  about  the  weather  and  day-dreaming. 
Madame  de  Bonmont  was  thinking  how  sweet  life 
might  be,  if  only  Rara  willed  it  so.  She  loved  him 
so  simply  and  so  ingenuously.  All  the  ancient  and 
modern  moralists,  all  the  fathers  of  the  Church,  the 
doctors  and  theologians,  the  Abbe  Guitrel  and 
Monseigneur  Chariot,  the  Pope  and  the  whole  of 
the  Church  Council,  the  archangel  Michael  with 
his  great  trumpet,  and  Christ  come  again  in  His 
glory  to  judge  both  the  quick  and  the  dead — all  of 


78  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

them  put  together  would  never  have  succeeded  in 
making  her  believe  that  it  was  a  sin  for  her  to  love 
Rara.  She  was  thinking  that  she  would  not  see  him 
at  Montil,  and  that  perhaps,  at  that  very  moment, 
he  was  unfaithful  to  her.  She  knew  he  was  almost 
as  familiar  with  women  as  he  was  with  the  bailiffs ; 
she  had  seen  him  at  the  races  with  ladies  of  easy 
virtue  and  uncertain  age,  at  whom  he  had  cast 
leering  glances  as  he  handed  them  the  field-glasses 
or  helped  them  on  with  their  cloaks.  The  poor 
dear  could  not  get  rid  of  a  whole  host  of  tiresome 
people,  to  whom  he  was  bound  for  reasons  she  found 
it  impossible  to  understand,  even  when  he  explained 
them  at  length.  She  felt  very  unhappy  and  heaved 
a  deep  sigh. 

The  Abbe  was  thinking  of  the  bishopric  of 
Tourcoing.  His  rival,  the  Abbe  Lantaigne,  was 
done  for.  He  was  going  under  in  the  ruin  of  his 
seminary,  smothered  beneath  bills  of  the  butcher 
Lafolie.  But  there  were  many  rivals  in  the  field. 
A  senior  curate  from  Paris  and  a  cure  from  Lyons 
seemed  to  be  the  Government  favourites ;  the 
Nunciature  as  usual  lay  low.  The  Abbe  Guitrel 
heaved  a  sigh. 

Hearing  the  sigh,  Madame  de  Bonmont,  who  was 
very  kind-hearted,  reproached  herself  for  selfishly 
thinking  of  her  own  affairs.  She  made  an  effort  to 
appear  interested  in  the  Abbe  Guitrel's  concerns, 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  79 

and  affectionately  inquired  whether  he  would  not 
soon  be  made  a  bishop. 

"  You  are  a  candidate  for  Tourcoing,"  she  said. 
"  Would  you  not  dislike  living  in  so  small  a  town  ?  " 

The  Abbe  declared  that  the  care  of  his  flock 
would  be  sufficient  to  occupy  him,  and  that, 
moreover,  the  diocese  of  Tourcoing  was  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  important  in  Northern  France. 
"  It  is  the  see,"  he  added,  "  of  the  blessed  St.  Loup, 
the  apostle  of  Flanders." 

"  Indeed  ?  "  remarked  Madame  de  Bonmont. 

"We  must  be  careful,"  went  on  the  Abbe,  "not 
to  confound  St.  Loup,  the  apostle  of  Flanders,  with 
St.  Loup,  Bishop  of  Lyons,  St.  Leu  or  Loup,  Bishop 
of  Sens,  and  St.  Loup,  Bishop  of  Troyes.  The  latter 
had  been  married  seven  years  to  Pimentola,  a  sister 
of  the  Bishop  of  Aries,  when  he  left  her,  to  retire  in 
solitude  to  Lerins  and  devote  himself  entirely  to 
works  of  ascetic  piety." 

And  Madame  de  Bonmont  was  thinking : 

"  He's  been  losing  heavily  again.  In  one  way  it 
is  good  for  him,  because  he  has  been  winning  too 
frequently  at  the  club  lately,  and  people  were 
getting  suspicious.  On  the  other  hand  it's  a  great 
nuisance.     I  shall  have  to  pay  up." 

And  Madame  de  Bonmont  was  much  annoyed  at 
having  to  pay  Rara's  debts.  In  the  first  place  she 
never  liked  paying  and,  in  the  second,  she  disliked 


8o  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

lending  money  to  Rara  as  much  as  a  matter  of 
principle  as  from  fear  of  not  being  loved  for  herself 
alone.  At  the  same  time  she  knew  that  when  she 
saw  her  Rara,  gloomy  and  terrible,  tying  a  wet  towel 
round  his  fevered  cranium — which  was  beginning 
to  be  discernible  through  the  fast-thinning  hair — 
and  when  she  heard  the  poor  darling  crying  amidst 
a  torrent  of  blasphemies  that  the  only  thing  for 
him  to  do  was  to  blow  out  his  brains,  she  knew  she 
would  have  to  pay.  You  see  Rara  was  a  man  of 
honour  ;  in  fact,  he  lived  on  honour ;  since  he  had 
left  the  Army  his  profession  had  been  that  of 
witness  or  umpire,  and,  in  the  smartest  circles, 
no  duel  ever  took  place  without  his  presence. 

And  to  think  that  she  would  have  to  part  with 
more  money.  If  only  he  belonged  entirely  to  her 
and  was  loving  and  attentive.  As  it  was,  he  was  in 
a  perpetual  state  of  agitation,  desperation,  and  fury, 
and  always  seemed  like  a  man  laying  about  him  in 
the  thick  of  a  fight. 

"  The  saint  of  whom  I  am  speaking,  Madame  la 
Baronne,"  went  on  the  Abbe,  "  the  blessed  St.  Loup, 
or  Lupus,  preached  the  gospel  in  Flanders,  and  his 
apostolic  labours  were  often  fraught  with  many 
trials.  In  his  biography  we  find  an  instance  which 
will  touch  you  by  its  naive  beauty.  One  frosty 
day  in  winter  he  was  traversing  the  frozen  country- 
side,  and   stopped   at   the  house  of  a   senator  to 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  8i 

warm  himself.  The  latter,  who  was  entertaming 
some  of  his  boon  companions,  continued  to  hold 
unseemly  conversation  with  them  in  the  presence 
of  the  apostle.  St.  Loup  made  an  attempt  to 
stop  the  conversation.  '  My  sons,'  said  he  to  the 
senator  and  his  guests,  '  are  you  not  aware  that 
on  the  day  of  judgment  you  will  have  to  answer 
for  every  vain  speech  you  have  uttered  ?  '  Treating 
the  exhortations  of  the  holy  man  with  contempt, 
however,  they  returned  with  redoubled  zest  to 
their  indecent  and  impious  talk.  Shaking  the  dust 
from  off  his  feet,  the  blessed  saint  said  to  them, 
'  I  desired  to  warm  my  tired  body  against  the 
bitter  cold,  but  your  sinful  talk  forces  me, 
though  still  numb  with  cold,  to  quit  your  com- 
pany.' " 

Madame  de  Bonmont  was  sadly  reflecting  that 
lately,  with  teeth  set  and  eyes  flashing,  Rara  had 
been  threatening  the  destruction  of  the  Jews.  He 
had  always  been  against  the  Jews,  and  so  had  she  for 
that  matter.  However,  she  preferred  not  to  discuss 
the  subject,  and  in  her  opinion  Rara,  being  the  lover 
of  a  Catholic  lady  of  Jewish  origin,  was  wanting  in 
tact  when  he  swore,  as  he  invariably  did,  that  he 
would  like  to  rip  open  every  "  sheeny  "  in  Christen- 
dom. She  would  have  preferred  more  gentleness 
and  sympathy,  calmer  views  and  more  amiable 
desires.     As  for  herself,  her  thoughts  of  love  were 


§2  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

mingled  with  innocent  dreams  of  sweetmeats  and 
poetry. 

"  The  mission  of  the  blessed  St.  Loup,"  continued 
the  Abbe  Guitrel,  "  bore  fruit.  The  inhabitants  of 
Tourcoing  were  baptized  by  him,  and  chose  him 
by  acclamation  for  their  bishop.  His  end  was 
accompanied  by  circumstances  which  I  feel  sure 
will  impress  you,  Madame.  One  December  day, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  397,  St.  Loup,  then  full  of 
years  and  good  deeds,  made  his  way  to  a  tree  sur- 
rounded by  briars,  where  it  was  his  habit  to  pray. 
Fixing  two  stakes  into  the  ground,  he  marked  out  a 
space  as  long  as  his  body,  and  said  to  the  disciples 
he  had  asked  to  accompany  him,  '  When,  by  God's 
will,  I  end  my  exile  in  this  world,  it  is  there  I  desire 
to  be  laid.' 

"  St.  Loup  died  on  the  Sunday  following  the 
day  on  which  he  had  marked  out  his  last  resting- 
place,  and  it  was  done  as  he  had  commanded. 
Blandus  came  to  inter  the  body  of  the  blessed 
saint,  whom  he  was  afterwards  to  succeed  as  Bishop 
of  Tourcoing." 

She  felt  sad  and  full  of  compassion.  She  under- 
stood the  reason  for  Rara's  anti-Jewish  frenzies, 
and  excused  them.  The  fact  was  that  latterly,  to 
re-establish  his  reputation  among  his  fellows  as  a 
man  of  honour,  Rara  had  warmly  espoused  the 
cause   of   the   Army,    in   which   he   had   formerly 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  83 

served  as  a  cavalry  officer.  He  had  greatly 
tightened  the  bonds  that  united  him  with  one  great 
family — the  Army,  and  had  even  struck  a  Jew  whom 
he  had  overheard  in  a  cafe  asking  for  the  Army  List. 

Madame  de  Bonmont  loved  and  admired  him,  but 
she  was  far  from  happy. 

Raising  her  head  and  opening  her  flower-like  eyes 
she  said  : 

"  The  see  of  the  blessed  St.  Loup,  apostle  to 

Please  go  on,  M.  I'Abbe.     I  am  very  interested." 

It  was  Madame  de  Bonmont's  fate  to  seek,  in 
hearts  little  fitted  to  give  it  her,  the  sweetness  of 
peaceful  love.  The  sentimental  Elizabeth  had 
always  bestowed  her  heart  upon  arrant  adven- 
turers. During  her  husband's  lifetime  she  had 
fondly  loved  the  son  of  an  obscure  senator,  young 

X ,  famous  for  having  appropriated  to  his  own 

use  a  whole  year's  secret  funds  of  a  certain  govern- 
ment department.  Close  upon  this  she  had  given 
her  confidence  to  an  extremely  fascinating  man 
who  was  one  of  the  bright  particular  stars  of  the 
government  press,  and  who  suddenly  disappeared 
from  view  in  a  tremendous  financial  catastrophe. 
These  two,  at  any  rate,  had  been  introduced  to 
her  by  the  Baron  himself.  You  cannot  blame  a 
woman  if  she  has  lovers  belonging  to  her  own  set. 
But  her  newest,   dearest,  her  one  and  only  love. 


84  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Raoul  Marcien,  had  not  been  one  of  the  Baron's 
friends.  He  did  not  belong  to  the  world  of  sale 
and  barter.  She  had  met  him  in  a  most  select 
circle  of  Catholic  Royalist  society  somewhere 
in  the  provinces.  He  was  himself  as  good  as  a 
nobleman.  This  time  she  had  firmly  believed 
she  was  going  to  satisfy  her  desire  for  love,  and 
delicate,  refined  intimacy,  that  at  last  she  had  found 
the  chivalrous  lover  with  noble  and  beautiful  feel- 
ings of  whom  she  had  so  long  dreamed. 

And  now  she  found  that  he  was  like  all  the  others, 
alternately  frozen  with  fear  and  burning  with 
rage,  torn  with  anguish  of  mind  and  agitated  by 
the  extraordinary  adventures  of  a  life  devoted  to 
fraud  and  blackmail.  But  he  was  so  much  more 
picturesque  and  amusing  than  anyone  else  !  He 
would,  for  instance,  be  summoned  as  witness  in 
some  serious  and  delicate  affair,  and  at  the  same 
time  be  served  with  a  judgment-summons  at  his 
club  ;  or  again,  he  might  one  day  be  made  Cheva- 
lier of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  and  the  same  morning 
be  haled  before  the  court  on  a  charge  of  embezzle- 
ment. Moreover,  with  erect  carriage,  and  well- 
Vv'axed  moustache,  he  defended  his  honour  at  the 
point  of  his  sword.  But  for  some  months  past 
he  had  seemed  to  be  losing  his  sang-froid  ;  he 
spoke  too  loudly,  and  gesticulated  too  much, 
in    fact    he   compromised   his    case    by    his    desire 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  85 

for  vengeance,  for  he  was  always  complaining  of 
betrayal. 

It  was  with  real  anxiety  that  Elizabeth  saw 
Rara's  temper  grow  daily  more  unmanageable. 
When  she  went  to  see  him  of  a  morning  she  would 
find  him  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  bending  over  his  old 
military  trunk  crammed  full  of  writs,  swearing 
and  blaspheming  with  crimson  face.  "  Rogues  ! 
scoundrels  !  scum  !  wretches  !  "  he  would  shout, 
vociferating  that  they  should  hear  from  him  to 
their  cost.  She  would  snatch  a  kiss  in  the  middle 
of  the  curses,  and  be  sent  away  with  the  usual 
remark  that  he  would  blow  out  his  brains. 

No,  it  was  not  the  love  of  which  Ehzabeth  had 
dreamed. 

"  You  were  saying,  M.  I'Abbe,  that  the  blessed 
St.  Loup ?  " 

But  the  Abbe,  with  his  head  inclined  at  a  gentle 
angle  and  hands  clasped  upon  his  portly  frame,  was 
fast  asleep  in  his  chair. 

So  Madame  de  Bonmont,  who  was  as  kind  to 
herself  as  she  was  to  others,  also  fell  asleep  in  her 
easy  chair  ;  fell  asleep,  thinking  that  perhaps  after 
all  Rara  would  come  to  an  end  of  his  worries  soon, 
that  she  might  only  have  to  give  him  quite  a  little 
money,  and  that  after  all  she  was  beloved  by  the 
handsomest  of  men. 
■  "  My  dear,  my  dear,"   cried  the  much-travelled 


86  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Madame  Hortha,  in  her  trumpet-like  voice,  calcu- 
lated to  strike  terror  into  the  heart  of  a  Turk,  "  are 
we  not  to  see  M.  Ernest  to-night  ?  " 

Standing  there,  with  her  big  limbs  and  heavy 
features,  she  looked  like  a  warrior  virgin  left  behind 
and  forgotten  for  twenty  years  in  the  wings  of  the 
theatre  at  Bayreuth  ;  she  was  terrible  to  look  upon, 
clothed  and  girdled  with  jet  and  steel  that  flashed, 
gleamed,  and  clanked  as  she  moved,  but,  in  spite  of 
it  all,  quite  a  good  sort  of  woman,  and  the  mother 
of  numerous  children. 

Awakened  with  a  start  by  the  magic  blast  that 
blared  from  the  bosom  of  the  excellent  Madame 
Hortha,  the  Baronne  replied  that  her  son,  who  had 
obtained  sick  leave,  was  to  arrive  that  evening  at 
Montil,  and  the  carriage  had  gone  to  the  station  to 
meet  him. 

The  Abbe  Guitrel,  whose  slumbers,  too,  had  been 
pierced  by  this  nocturnal  flourish  of  trumpets, 
adjusted  his  spectacles,  and,  moistening  his  lips, 
that  they  might  have  the  necessary  unction, 
murmured  with  heavenly  sweetness : 

"  Yes,  Loup — Loup." 

"  And  so,"  said  Madame  de  Bonmont,  "  you  will 
wear  the  mitre,  you  will  hold  the  crosier,  and  have 
a  big  ring  on  your  finger." 

"  I  do  not  know  yet,  Madame,"  replied  M. 
Guitrel. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  87 

"  Yes,  yes  !  You  will  be  appointed  !  "  She 
leaned  forward  slightly,  and,  in  a  low  voice,  asked : 
"  Monsieur  I'Abbe,  must  the  Bishop's  ring  be  of 
any  particular  design  ?  " 

"  Not  exactly,  Madame,"  replied  M.  Guitrel. 
"  The  Bishop  wears  the  ring  as  a  symbol  of  his 
spiritual  union  with  the  Church  ;  it  is  therefore 
fitting  that  the  ring  should  suggest  by  its  appearance 
thoughts  of  austerity  and  purity." 

"  Ah  !  "  said  Madame  de  Bonmont.  "  What 
about  the  stone  ?  " 

"  In  the  Middle  Ages,"  repHed  the  Abbe,  "  the 
bezel  was  sometimes  of  gold  like  the  ring,  and 
sometimes  consisted  of  a  precious  stone.  It  seems 
that  the  amethyst  is  a  very  suitable  stone  with 
which  to  adorn  the  pastoral  ring,  it  gleams  with  a 
gentle  lustre,  and  is  one  of  the  twelve  stones  that 
formed  the  breastplate  worn  by  the  High  Priest  of 
the  Jews.  In  Christian  symbolism  it  stands  for 
modesty  and  humility  ;  Narbode,  Bishop  of  Rennes 
in  the  eleventh  century,  makes  it  the  emblem  of 
those  who  give  themselves  to  be  crucified  on  the 
cross  of  Jesus  Christ." 

"  Indeed  !  "  said  Madame  de  Bonmont. 

She  had  made  up  her  mind  that  when  M.  Guitrel 
became  Bishop  of  Tourcoing  she  would  make  him 
a  present  of  an  episcopal  ring  set  with  a  large 
amethyst. 


88  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Madame  Hortha's  trumpets  again  rang  out : 

"  My  dear,  my  dear,  are  we  not  to  see  M.  Raoul 
Marcien  to-night  ?  Are  we  not  to  have  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  the  dear  man  ?  " 

The  cosmopohtan  lady  was  well  worthy  of 
admiration,  in  that,  although  acquainted  with 
every  grade  of  society  under  the  sun,  she  avoided 
making  a  hopeless  muddle  of  them  all.  Her  brain 
was  a  directory  of  all  the  drawing-rooms  of  all 
the  capitals  of  Europe,  and  she  was  not  wanting 
in  a  certain  worldly  judgment ;  her  kindness  of 
heart,  too,  was  universal.  If  she  had  mentioned 
Raoul  Marcien,  it  was  in  all  innocence.  She  was 
innocence  personified,  and  knew  nothing  of  evil. 
She  was  a  good  wife  and  a  good  mother,  whose 
home  was  a  sleeping-car  or  a  wagon-lit,  yet  a  domes- 
ticated woman  for  all  that.  Under  the  corsage  of 
jet  and  steel  that  glittered  as  she  moved  with  a 
sound  as  of  hail,  she  wore  coarse  grey  cotton 
stays.  Even  her  lady's-maids  never  questioned 
her  virtue. 

"  My  dear,  my  dear,  of  course  you  know  that 
M.  Raoul  Marcien  has  fought  a  duel  with  M.  Isidore 
Mayer  ?  " 

And  in  a  voice  that  made  one  think  of  inter- 
national bureaux  and  tourist  inquiry  offices,  she 
related  the  story  which  Madame  de  Bonmont  knew 
by  heart. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  89 

She  told  how  M.  Isidore  Mayer,  a  Jew,  both 
well  known  and  highly  respected  in  the  financial 
world,  went  into  a  cafe  in  the  Boulevard  des 
Capucines,  sat  down  at  a  table  and  asked  for  the 
Army  List.  Having  a  son  in  the  Army,  he  wished  to 
make  sure  of  the  names  of  the  officers  in  his  regiment. 
Just  as  he  was  about  to  take  the  book  from  a  waiter 
M.  Raoul  Marcien  strode  up,  and  said  :  "  Monsieur, 
I  forbid  you  to  lay  a  hand  on  that  book.  It  is 
sacred  to  the  French  Army  !  "  "  Why  ?  "  asked 
•  M.  Isidore  Mayer.  "'  Because  you  are  of  the  same 
religion  as  the  traitor  !  " 

M.  Isidore  Mayer  shrugged  his  shoulders,  upon 
which  M.  Raoul  Marcien  struck  him  full  in  the 
face.  An  encounter  was  arranged,  and  two  shots 
fired  without  effect. 

"  My  dear,  my  dear,  do  you  understand  why  he 
did  it  ?    I  must  say  I  do  not." 

Madame  de  Bonmont  did  not  reply,  and  her 
silence  was  prolonged  by  that  of  M.  de  Terre- 
mondre  and  Baron  Wallstein. 

"  I  believe,"  said  Madame  de  Bonmont,  listening 
intently  to  the  distant  sounds  of  horses'  hoofs  and 
the  rumble  of  wheels,  "  that  Ernest  is  coming." 

At  this  point  a  servant  came  in  with  the  news- 
papers. M.  de  Terremondre  took  one  of  them  and 
glanced  casually  at  it. 

"  Still  the  Affair  !  "  he  murmured.     "  More  pro- 


90  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

fessors  protesting  !  Why  will  they  insist  on  med- 
dling with  what  does  not  concern  them  ?  It  is  only 
right  that  the  Army  should  settle  its  own  affairs,  as 
it  always  has  done.  Moreover,  it  seems  to  me  that 
when  seven  officers " 

"  Of  course,"  replied  the  Abbe,  "  when  seven 
officers  have  given  judgment,  I  will  even  go  so  far 
as  to  say  that  it  is  unseemly  to  raise  any  doubts 
as  to  their  decision.  It  is  highly  indecorous  and 
incongruous !  " 

"  Are  you  speaking  of  the  Affair  ?  "  asked 
Madame  de  Bonmont.  "  Well,  I  can  assure  you 
that  Dreyfus  is  guilty.  I  have  it  from  an  authentic 
source." 

She  blushed  as  she  spoke,  for  it  was  Raoul  to 
whom  she  had  referred. 

Ernest  entered  the  drawing-room,  sulky  and 
morose. 

"  Good  evening,  mother  !  Good  evening,  M. 
I'Abbe ! " 

He  took  very  little  notice  of  the  others,  but 
threw  himself  upon  the  cushions  of  a  couch  which 
stood  just  beneath  the  portrait  of  his  father, 
whom  he  much  resembled.  He  was  the  Baron 
over  again,  but  shrunken,  diminished,  and  sickly, 
the  wild  boar  grown  small,  pale,  and  flabby.  The 
likeness,  however,  was  striking,  and  M,  de  Terre- 
mondre  drew  attention  to  it : 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  91 

"  It  is  surprising,  M.  de  Bonmont,  how  like  you 
are  to  the  portrait  of  the  late  Baron,  your  father." 

Ernest  lifted  his  head  and  glanced  at  the  picture 
by  Delaunay. 

"  Ah,  yes,  the  pater !  Clever  chap,  the  pater. 
I'm  all  there  myself,  too,  but  pretty  well  played 
out.  How  are  you,  M.  I'Abbe  ?  You  and  I  are  good 
friends,  aren't  we  ?  I  want  to  have  a  little  talk  with 
you  presently."  Then,  turning  to  M.  de  Terre- 
mondre,  who  was  still  holding  the  newspaper : 
"  What  do  they  say  there  ?  As  far  as  we  fellows 
are  concerned,  we  are  not  allowed  an  opinion  of  any 
description,  you  bet  !  Only  a  bourgeois  is  per- 
mitted the  luxury  of  an  idea,  though  it  may  be  an 
idiotic  one.  Then,  good  Lord,  the  things  that 
interest  the  big  bugs,  how  should  they  interest  us  ?  " 

He  sneered.  His  life  in  the  regiment  afforded 
him  endless  amusement.  Although  he  did  not 
appear  so,  he  was  exceedingly  shrewd,  prudent,  and 
cunning  ;  he  also  knew  when  to  hold  his  tongue, 
and  took  the  keenest  delight  in  the  great  and 
demoralizing  power  he  possessed.  In  spite  of 
himself,  he  corrupted  every  one  that  he  approached, 
and  was  extremely  pleased  when  he  could  swindle 
them  in  some  way,  as,  for  instance,  when  he 
succeeded  in  prevailing  upon  a  poor  and  vain 
companion  to  present  him  with  a  meerschaum  pipe. 
His  greatest  joy  was  to  despise  and  hate  his  superiors, 


92  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

and  to  see  how  some  of  the  more  covetous  among 
them  would  absolutely  sell  him  their  very  souls, 
while  others,  more  timorous  and  fearful  of  com- 
promising themselves  by  showing  him  any  leniency, 
would  deny  him,  not  a  favour  even,  but  the  enjoy- 
ment of  some  right  which  they  would  never  refuse 
to  the  son  of  a  peasant. 

Full  of  craft  and  cunning,  young  Ernest  de 
Bonmont  came  and  sat  by  the  Abbe  Guitrel,  and 
began  to  talk  coaxingly  to  him  : 

"  M.  I'Abbe,  you  often  see  the  Breces,  don't 
you  ?     You  know  them  very  well  ?  " 

"  You  must  not  imagine,  my  son,"  replied  the 
Abbe,  "  that  I  am  an  intimate  friend  of  the  Due 
de  Brece.  That  is  not  the  case.  The  utmost 
I  can  say  is  that  I  often  have  the  privilege  of 
visiting  in  the  family  circle.  On  certain  festival 
days  I  say  Mass  in  the  chapel  of  Notre-Dame-des- 
Belles-Feuilles,  which,  as  you  know,  is  situated  in 
the  woods  of  Brece.  This,  as  I  was  just  telling 
your  mother,  is  a  source  of  consolation  and  thankful- 
ness to  me.  After  Mass  I  lunch,  either  at  the 
Presbytery,  with  M.  le  cure  Travies,  or  at  the 
chateau,  where,  I  am  bound  to  say,  they  treat 
me  with  the  greatest  kindness.  The  Duke's  manner 
towards  me  is  always  simple  and  natural,  and 
the   ladies    are    amiable    and    pleasant.     They    do 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  93 

a  great  deal  of  good  around  here,  and  would 
do  still  more  were  it  not  for  the  unjustified 
prejudices,  blind  hatred,  and  bitter  feelings  of  the 
people." 

"  Do  you  happen  to  know  what  effect  was  pro- 
duced by  the  utensil  Mother  sent  to  the  Duchess 
for  the  chapel  of  Notre-Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles?" 

"  What  utensil  do  you  mean  ?  Do  you  refer  to 
the  golden  ciborium  ?  I  can  assure  you  that  M. 
and  Madame  de  Brece  were  much  touched  by  your 
mother's  simple  act  of  homage  to  the  miraculous 
Virgin." 

"  So  it  was  a  good  idea,  wasn't  it,  M.  I'Abbe  ? 
Well,  it  was  my  notion.  Mother  isn't  particularly 
bright  in  the  way  of  ideas,  you  know — oh,  I'm 
not  reproaching  her.  However,  let  us  talk 
seriously.  You  are  very  fond  of  me,  are  you  not, 
M.  I'Abbe  ?  " 

M.  Guitrel  took  young  Bonmont's  hands  in  both 
his. 

"  Never  doubt  my  affection  for  you,  my  son  ; 
it  is  the  love  of  a  father  for  his  child  ;  I  might 
even  say  that  it  is  a  maternal  love  as  well,  and 
thus  express  more  fully  all  that  it  contains  both 
of  strength  and  tenderness.  I  have  watched  you 
grow  up,  my  dear  Ernest,  since  that  day  on  which 
you  made  so  excellent  a  first  communion,  to  this 
moment,    in    which   you    are    accomplishing    your 


94  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

noble  duty  as  a  soldier  in  our  great  French  Army, 
which,  day  by  day,  I  am  thankful  to  say,  grows 
more  Christian  and  more  pious.  And  it  is  my 
firm  conviction,  my  dearest  boy,  that  amid  the 
distractions,  the  errors  even  of  your  age,  you  have 
kept  the  faith.  Your  actions  speak  for  themselves. 
I  know  you  have  always  looked  upon  it  as  your  duty 
to  contribute  towards  our  works  of  charity.  You 
are  my  favourite  child." 

"  Well,  then,  M.  I'Abbe,  do  your  child  a  good 
turn.  Tell  the  Due  de  Brece  to  give  me  permission 
to  wear  the  Brece  Hunt  badge.'' 

"  The  Hunt  badge  ?  But,  my  son,  what  do 
I  know  of  such  matters  ?  I  am  not,  like  M.  de 
Travies,  a  great  hunter  before  the  Lord.  I  have 
followed  St.  Thomas  far  more  than  St.  Hubert. 
The  Hunt  badge  ?  Is  that  not  a  figurative  ex- 
pression, a  kind  of  metaphor  to  express  the  idea 
of  membership  of  the  Hunt  ?  Anyway,  my  son, 
what  you  desire  is  an  invitation  to  the  Brece 
meets." 

Young  Bonmont  gave  a  jump. 

"  Don't,  for  heaven's  sake,  get  mixed,  M.  I'Abbe. 
That's  not  it — oh,  not  a  bit  of  it.  An  invitation 
— I'm  pretty  sure  to  get  an  invitation  to  the  de 
Brece  meets,  in  exchange  for  the  utensil." 

"  Ciborium,  ciborium,  remember  the  Latin 
ciborium  !     I  also  think,  m}-  dear  child,  that  the 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  95 

Duke  and  Duchess  will  make  a  special  point  of 
sending  you  an  invitation  as  soon  as  they  realize  that 
it  will  please  you  and  your  mother  to  accept  it." 

"  I  believe  you  !  As  soon  as  they  stuck  to 
the  plate.  But  you  can  tell  them  from  me  that 
I  don't  care  a  flip  for  an  invitation  to  see  a 
meet.  I  don't  want  to  stay  and  rot  at  some  cross- 
roads where  there  is  nothing  to  be  seen,  where  you 
are  sure  to  get  all  the  mud  kicked  up  by  the  horses 
full  in  your  face,  and  then  be  sworn  at  by  a  hunts- 
man for  obstructing  the  way.  No,  I  am  not  par- 
ticularly keen  on  such  amusements.  The  Breces 
can  keep  their  invitation  !  " 

"  In  that  case,  my  son,  I  do  not  understand 
your  idea." 

"  And  yet  my  idea  is  clear  enough,  M.  I'Abbe. 
I  do  not  intend  the  Breces  to  laugh  up  their  sleeve 
at  me,  that's  what  I'm  driving  at." 

"  Pray  explain  yourself  !  " 

"  Well,  M.  I'Abbe,  just  imagine  being  planted 
down  on  the  Carrefour  du  Roi,  together  with  the 
village  doctor,  the  wife  of  the  Chief  of  Police,  and 
M.  Irvoy's  head  clerk  !  No,  such  a  situation  is  not 
to  be  thought  of  for  one  moment.  But  if  I  wear 
the  Hunt  badge,  I  can  follow  the  hounds,  and, 
although  I  may  look  a  bit  off  colour  sometimes, 
I'll  soon  show  them  whether  I  can  ride  or  not. 
Now  you  can  get  me  what   I  want,   M.  I'Abbe; 


96  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

the  Breces  will  not  refuse  you  anything.  All  you 
have  to  do  is  to  ask  it  in  the  name  of  Notre-Dame- 
des-Belles-Feuilles." 

"  I  beg  of  you,  my  child,  not  to  bring  Notre- 
Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles  into  such  a  matter,  which 
cannot  interest  her  in  the  very  slightest.  The 
miraculous  Virgin  of  Brece  has  enough  to  do  in 
answering  the  prayers  of  widows  and  orphans,  not 
to  mention  those  of  our  brave  soldiers  in  Mada- 
gascar. But,  my  dear  Ernest,  is  there  really  so  much 
to  be  gained  by  the  possession  of  this  badge  ?  Is 
it  then  such  a  precious  talisman  ?  No  doubt 
strange  privileges  are  attached  to  its  possession.  Tell 
me  all  about  them.  I  am  far  from  despising  the 
noble  and  ancient  art  of  hunting,  for  I  belong  to  the 
clergy  of  an  eminently  sporting  diocese,  and  would 
be  glad  of  any  information  on  the  subject." 

"  You  do  amuse  me,  M.  I'Abbe,  and  I  know  you 
must  be  joking.  You  know  as  well  as  I  do  what 
is  understood  by  the  Hunt  badge  :  it  is  the 
right  to  wear  the  colours  of  any  particular  hunt. 
I  am  going  to  speak  frankly  to  you ;  I  am  candid, 
because  I  can  afford  to  be  so.  I  want  to  be  made 
a  member  of  the  Brece  Hunt,  because  it  is  the 
correct  thing,  and  I  like  to  be  in  the  swim.  I 
want  it  because  I  am  a  snob  and  a  vain  man.  I 
also  want  it  because  it  would  amuse  me  to  dine 
with  the  Breces  on  St.  Hubert's  Day.     The  Brece 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  97 

badge  would  be  just  about  my  mark.  I  want 
it  very  badly,  and  I'm  not  going  to  disguise  the 
fact.  I  have  no  false  shame — no  shame  of  any 
kind,  for  the  matter  of  that.  Listen  to  me,  M. 
I'Abbe,  I  have  something  of  great  importance  to 
say  to  you.  You  must  understand  that  in  broaching 
the  subject  to  the  Due  de  Brece,  you  will  only  be 
claiming  what  is  my  due  ;  you  understand — 
my  due  !  I  have  property  round  here  ;  I  do  not 
shoot  the  deer  ;  I  let  people  hunt  and  kill  on  my 
estates,  all  of  which  deserves  both  consideration 
and  gratitude.  M.  de  Brece  is  really  under  obliga- 
tions to  his  kind  little  neighbour  Ernest." 

The  Abbe  said  nothing.  It  was  evident  that  he 
did  not  like  the  idea,  and  was  prepared  to  refuse 
to  do  what  was  asked  of  him.  Young  Bonmont 
went  on  : 

"  I  need  hardly  say,  M.  I'Abbe,  that,  in  case  the 
Breces  demand  a  price  in  return  for  the  privilege, 
I  should  not  stick  at  such  a  trifle." 

M.  I'Abbe  Guitrel  made  a  movement  of  protest. 

"  Banish  that  supposition,  my  son !  It  ill 
accords  with  the  character  of  the  Due  de  Brece." 

"  That  may  be,  M.  I'Abbe.  Whether  it  be  given 
or  sold,  depends  upon  the  owner's  ideas  and  the 
state  of  his  banking  account.  Some  packs  cost  the 
master  80,000  francs  a  year  ;  others  bring  him  in 
as  much  as  30,000  francs  a  year.     In  saying  this  I 


98  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

am  not  in  any  way  blaming  the  man  who  expects 
people  to  pay  for  their  privileges.  Personally,  I 
should  prefer  to  do  so,  indeed,  I  consider  it  only 
fair.  Then  there  are  districts  where  hunting  costs 
so  much,  that  the  master,  even  if  he  is  a  rich 
man,  cannot  keep  things  going  alone.  Just  suppose 
for  instance,  M.  I'Abbe,  that  you  kept  a  pack  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Paris.  Can  you  see  yourself  meet- 
ing all  expenses  and  finding  your  purse  sufficient 
to  pay  the  heavy  claims  entailed  ?  But  I  think 
I  have  heard  that  the  Brece  badge  is  not  to  be 
bought  with  money.  The  Duke  hasn't  the  gumption 
to  make  a  profit  out  of  his  pack.  Well,  M.  I'Abbe, 
you  will  get  it  for  me,  gratis  and  for  nothing  !  It 
will  all  be  so  much  to  the  good." 

Before  replying,  the  Abbe  reflected  long  and 
deeply,  and  this  display  of  prudence  worried  young 
Bonmont  not  a  little.  At  last,  however,  the  Abbe 
opened  his  lips : 

"  My  son,  I  have  said  so  once,  and  will 
say  it  again.  I  have  a  great  affection  for  you, 
and  should  like  both  to  please  and  to  aid 
you.  I  would  welcome  any  opportunity  of 
doing  you  a  service.  But  I  really  have  not  the 
necessary  qualifications  to  solicit  on  your  behalf 
the  worldly  distinction  to  which  you  refer.  Just 
think  for  a  moment.  Suppose  that,  after  hearing 
my  request,  M.  de  Brece  should  refuse  or  make 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  99 

some  difficulty  about  granting  it  ?  I  should  be 
powerless  to  bring  any  pressure  to  bear  upon  him. 
What  chance  would  a  humble  professor  of  elocution 
at  the  Grand  Seminaire  have  of  overcoming 
resistance,  removing  difficulty,  and  obtaining  con- 
sent, so  to  speak,  by  main  force  ?  I  have  nothing 
with  which  to  convince  and  hold  parley  with  the 
great  ones  of  the  earth.  I  cannot,  must  not,  even 
in  so  paltry  a  matter  as  this,  undertake  anything 
without  being  assured  of  its  success." 

Young  Bonmont  looked  at  the  Abbe  with  sur- 
prise mingled  with  admiration,  and  said  : 

"  I  understand,  M.  I'Abbe.  You  cannot  manage 
it  for  the  time  being.  But  when  you  are  made  a 
bishop  you  will  carry  off  the  badge  with  the  same 
ease  as  a  man  at  a  fair  carries  off  the  ring,  when 
tilting  upon  the  wooden  horses  of  the  roundabouts. 
Of  course  you  will !  " 

"  It  is  quite  possible,"  returned  M.  Guitrel, 
with  the  greatest  gravity,  "  that  if  a  bishop  were 
to  ask  for  the  Hunt  badge  for  you,  the  Duke  would 
not  refuse  him." 


CHAPTER  IV 

^  HAT  evening  M.  Bergeret,  having 
done  a  hard  day's  work,  was  feeling 
tired.  He  was  taking  his  customary- 
stroll  in  the  town,  accompanied  by 
M.  Goubin,  his  favourite  disciple 
since  the  treachery  of  M.  Roux,  and  as  he  ruminated 
over  the  work  he  had  accomplished  he  fell  to  won- 
dering, like  so  many  others  before  him,  what  profit 
a  man  hath  of  all  his  labours.     M.  Goubin  asked : 

"  Master,  do  you  think  that  Paul  Louis  Courrier 
would  be  a  good  subject  to  choose  for  an 
essay  ?  " 

M.  Bergeret  made  no  reply.  He  was  just  then 
passing  the  shop  of  Madame  Fusellier,  the  stationer, 
and,  stopping  in  front  of  the  window  in  which 
sundry  drawing  models  were  displayed,  he  looked 
with  interest  at  the  Farnese  Hercules  who  was 
showing  off  his  muscles  amid  these  examples  of 
scholastic  art. 

"  I  feel  kindly  disposed  towards  him,"  remarked 
M.  Bergeret. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  loi 

"  Towards  whom  ?  "  asked  M.  Goubin,  wiping 
his  glasses. 

"  Hercules,"  replied  M.  Bergeret.  "  He  was  a 
good  man.  He  himself  said :  '  My  life  is  laborious  and 
tends  to  a  high  ideal.'  He  toiled  much  upon  this 
earth  ere  he  received  the  reward  of  death,  which, 
in  truth,  is  the  only  guerdon  of  life.  He  had  no 
time  to  give  to  meditation,  and  prolonged  thought 
never  marred  the  simplicity  of  his  soul.  But  when 
evening  came  a  feeling  of  melancholy  would  steal 
over  him,  and,  in  default  of  an  enquiring  mind, 
his  great  heart  would  reveal  to  him  the  vanity  of 
effort,  and  the  necessity  which  compels  all  men, 
even  the  best,  to  do  evil  even  when  they  do  good. 
This  man  of  might  was  extraordinarily  gentle. 
Like  the  rest  of  us  when  we  commit  ourselves  to 
action,  he  found  that  he  destroyed  indiscriminately 
both  the  innocent  and  the  guilty,  the  meek  and  the 
violent,  and,  when  he  mused  over  all  this,  it  doubt- 
less caused  him  more  than  one  regret.  Perhaps  he 
even  felt  compassion  for  the  unhappy  monsters  he 
had  destroyed  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  :  the  poor 
Cretan  bull,  the  poor  Lernaean  hydra,  or  the  beau- 
tiful lion  who,  when  he  died,  provided  him  with 
such  an  excellently  warm  cloak.  More  than  once, 
when  the  day  was  over  and  his  work  done,  his  club 
must  have  weighed  heavily  upon  him."  M.  Bergeret 
raised  aloft  his  umbrella  with  an  effort  as  though  it 


102  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

had  been  a  heavy  weapon.  Then  he  continued  his 
discourse.  "  He  was  strong,  yet  weak.  We  love  him 
because  he  is  Hke  ourselves." 

"  Hercules  ?  "  asked  M.  Goubin. 

"  Yes,"  replied  M.  Bergeret.  ','  Like  ourselves, 
he  was  born  unhappy,  the  child  of  a  god  and  a 
woman.  From  this  mixed  origin  he  derived  the 
sadness  of  a  thoughtful  spirit  and  the  cravings  of  a 
ravening  body.  All  his  life  long  he  was  subject  to 
the  caprices  of  a  whimsical  king.  Are  not  we  too 
the  children  of  Zeus  and  the  hapless  Alcmena, 
and  the  slaves  of  Eurystheus  ?  I  am  at  the  mercy 
of  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  who  may 
take  it  into  his  head  at  any  moment  to  ship  me  oif 
to  Algiers,  just  as  Hercules  was  sent  to  the  land  of 
the  Nasamones." 

"  You  are  not  leaving  us,  dear  Master  ?  "  asked 
M.  Goubin  anxiously. 

*'  See  how  sad  he  is  !  "  went  on  M.  Bergeret. 
"  How  wearily  he  leans  upon  his  club,  letting  his 
arm  hang  limply  at  his  side  !  His  head  is  bowed,  he 
is  thinking  of  his  heavy  labours.  The  Farnese 
Hercules  was  certainly  conceived  after  the  statue 
by  Lysippus,  who  was  a  blacksmith's  apprentice 
before  becoming  a  sculptor,  and  it  is  undoubtedly 
that  sturdy  sculptor  of  a  sturdy  hero  who  fixed  the 
type  of  Hercules." 

Having   wiped   his   glasses   once   again   with   his 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  103 

handkerchief,  M.  Goubin  tried  to  catch  a  gUmpse 
of  the  principal  points  mentioned  by  the  master, 
and  while  he  was  thus  engaged  Madame  Fusellier, 
the  proprietress  of  the  shop,  on  hearing  the  clock 
strike  nine,  extinguished  the  gas  under  the  disciple's 
peering  eyes.  The  poor  man  had  no  idea  why  he 
could  see  nothing,  for  he  was  so  short-sighted  as 
to  be  an  utter  stranger  to  that  imaginary  world  in 
which  most  men  have  their  being. 

And,  as  M.  Bergeret  continued  to  walk  and  talk,  he 
followed  the  sound  of  his  voice,  for  he  trusted  only 
to  what  he  heard  others  say  to  guide  him  along  those 
pathw^ays  of  the  earth  whereon  his  youthful  pru- 
dence told  him  he  might  venture. 

"  His  strength,"  continued  the  Professor,  "  was 
the  cause  of  his  weakness.  He  was  under  the  yoke 
of  his  own  strength,  subject  to  the  exigencies  of  his 
nature,  which  compelled  him  to  devour  whole  sheep, 
drink  great  jars  of  dark  wine,  and  to  do  foolish 
deeds  for  women  of  little  worth.  The  hero  whose 
club  brought  peace  and  happiness  and  justice  to 
the  world,  the  son  of  the  great  god  Zeus,  would 
seek  sleep  anywhere  like  a  mere  tramp,  or  tarry  for 
weeks  and  weeks  with  a  wench  whose  lover  he  was. 
And  this  was  the  cause  of  his  melancholy.  With 
his  simple  soul,  his  submissiveness,  his  love  of 
justice,  and  his  mighty  muscles,  it  was  to  be  feared 
that  he  could  be  nothing  more  than  an  excellent 


I04  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

soldier  or  a  glorified  gendarme.  But  his  very  weak- 
nesses, his  errors,  his  unhappy  experiences  broadened 
his  soul,  opened  out  his  vision  upon  the  manifold 
diversity  of  life  and  mellowed  with  gentleness  his 
terrible  capacity  for  good  works." 

"  Dear  Master,"  said  M.  Goubin,  "  do  you  not 
think  that  Hercules  is  the  sun,  that  his  twelve 
labours  are  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  and  that  Dejanira's 
fiery  robe  represents  the  flaming  clouds  of  the  setting 
sun  ?  " 

"  That  is  possible,"  repHed  M.  Bergeret,  "  but  I 
do  not  wish  to  believe  it.  It  pleases  me  to  have  the 
same  idea  of  Hercules  that  a  barber  of  Thebes  or  a 
herb-vendor  of  Eleusis  would  have  had  in  the  time 
of  the  Median  wars.  I  think  this  idea  from  the 
point  of  view  of  force,  fullness  and  vivacity  is  worth 
all  your  systems  of  comparative  mythology  put 
together.  Hercules  was  a  kind-hearted  man.  When 
he  went  to  seek  the  steeds  of  Diomedes  he  crossed 
through  Pherae  and  stayed  his  steps  before  the 
palace  of  Admetus.  He  called  for  food  and  drink, 
and  spoke  very  roughly  to  the  servants,  who  had 
never  set  eyes  on  such  an  uncouth  guest.  He 
crowned  himself  with  myrtles,  and  drank  enormous 
quantities  of  wine,  and,  being  very  drunk,  and  not 
at  all  proud,  he  tried  to  force  the  cup-bearer  to 
drink  with  him  ;  but  the  latter,  very  shocked  at 
such  manners,  replied  severely  that  it  was  no  time 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  105 

for  eating  and  drinking,  when  the  good  Queen 
Alcestis  had  just  been  borne  to  the  grave.  She  had 
consecrated  herself  to  Thanatos  in  place  of  her 
husband  Admetus.  It  was,  therefore,  not  an  ordi- 
nary death,  but  a  kind  of  spell  which  had  been  cast 
over  her. 

"  Good  Hercules  immediately  recovered  from  his 
drunkenness,  and  asked  whither  they  had  taken 
Alcestis.  Beyond  the  suburb  on  the  way  to 
Larissa  she  lay  in  a  tomb  of  polished  marble. 
Thither  hastened  Hercules,  and  when  Thanatos, 
robed  in  black,  came  to  taste  of  the  offering 
of  cakes  dipped  in  blood,  the  hero,  who  was 
lying  in  ambush  behind  the  funeral  pile,  threw 
himself  upon  the  King  of  Darkness,  held  him  prisoner 
in  the  circle  of  his  arms,  and  forced  him,  all  bruised 
and  broken,  to  give  up  Alcestis,  who,  veiled  and 
silent,  returned  with  him  to  the  palace  of  Admetus. 
This  time  he  would  accept  of  no  refreshment,  he 
was  in  haste,  for  he  had  barely  time  to  fetch  the 
steeds  of  Diomedes. 

"  That  was  a  wonderful  adventure,  but  I  think 
I  prefer  the  tale  about  the  Cercopes.  Do  you 
know  the  story  of  the  two  brothers,  M.  Goubin  ? 
One  was  called  Andolous  and  the  other  Atlantos, 
and  they  had  faces  like  monkeys.  Their  name  leads 
me  to  believe  that  they  were  also  possessed  of 
tails  like  the  smaller  species  of  the  monkey  tribe. 


io6  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

They  were  very  cunning  thieves,  and  robbed  the 
orchards,  and  their  mother  was  continually  warning 
them  to  beware  of  the  hero,  Melampyges.  This, 
you  know,  was  the  name  familiarly  given  to 
Hercules,  whose  skin  was  not  white.  The  two 
rash  little  creatures  disdained  their  mother's  wise 
counsels,  and  one  day,  having  surprised  the 
'  Melampyges '  asleep  on  the  mossy  banks  of  a 
stream,  they  crept  up  to  him  to  try  and  steal  his 
club  and  lionskin.  But  the  hero,  waking  suddenly, 
seized  them,  tied  them  by  the  feet  to  the  branch  of 
a  tree,  and  slinging  them  over  his  shoulder  went 
upon  his  way.  The  Cercopes  were  doubtless  very 
uncomfortable,  both  in  mind  and  body,  but  as  the 
latter  was  extremely  supple  and  the  former  happy- 
go-lucky,  they  were  amused  and  interested  in 
everything  they  could  see,  and  what  they  chiefly 
saw  was  the  reason  for  the  hero's  nickname  of 
melampyge.  Atlantos  pointed  this  out  to  his 
brother  Andolous,  who  replied  that  their  captor 
was  indeed  the  hero  of  whom  their  mother  had 
spoken.  And  as  they  hung  Hke  squirrels  from  a 
hunter's  spear  they  whispered,  '  Melampyges  ! 
Melampyges ! '  with  a  mocking  laugh  Hke  the  cry 
of  the  forest  lapwing. 

Hercules  was  a  very  irritable  man,  and  did  not 
like  being  made  fun  of,  but  he  was  not  over 
proud,  and  never  imagined  that  the  whole  of  his 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  107 

body  was  as  white  as  that  of  poor  little  Hylas. 
The  name  that  had  been  bestowed  upon  him 
appeared  to  him  an  honourable  one,  and  quite 
worthy  of  a  strong  man  who  journeyed  about 
accomplishing  great  labours.  He  was  a  simple  soul 
and  easily  moved  to  laughter.  The  remarks  of  the 
two  Cercopes  struck  him  as  so  funny  that  he  stopped 
short,  and,  placing  his  game  upon  the  ground,  sat 
down  by  the  wayside  and  began  to  shout  with 
laughter.  For  a  long  time  he  remained  there  filling 
the  valley  with  the  sounds  of  his  mirth.  The  setting 
sun  spread  his  crimson  rays  over,  the  clouds  and 
gleamed  on  the  mountain  tops,  and  still  the  hero's 
laughter  rang  out  from  beneath  the  dark  pines 
and  tufted  larches.  At  last,  however,  he  rose, 
untied  the  two  little  monkey-men,  and,  having 
admonished  them,  let  them  go,  while  in  the  falling 
darkness  he  continued  his  rough  journey  across  the 
mountains.  You  see  he  was  a  kind-hearted  man  !  " 
"Dear  Master,"  said  M.  Goubin,  "allow  me  to 
ask  you  a  question.  Do  you  consider  Paul  Louis 
Courrier  a  good  subject  for  my  essay?  Because  as 
soon  as  I  have  got  my  degree " 


CHAPTER  V 

S  they  were  discussing  the  Affair  at 
Paillot's  library,  in  a  corner  devoted 
to  old  books,  M.  Bergeret,  who  was 
of  a  speculative  turn  of  mind,  gave 
expression  to  ideas  upon  the  subject 
that  were  not  in  accord  with  popular  sentiment. 

"  This  hearing  of  cases  in  camera  is  a  detestable 
practice,"  he  said. 

And  as  M.  de  Terremondre  offered  in  defence 
reasons  of  State,  he  replied : 

"  We  have  no  State.  We  have  administrations. 
What  we  call  reasons  of  State  are  simply  the  reasons 
of  government  departments.  We  are  told  that  such 
reasons  are  sacred;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  afford 
the  department  the  opportunity  to  hide  its  errors, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  aggravate  their  conse- 
quences." 

"  I  am  a  republican,  a  Jacobin,  a  terrorist — 
and  a  patriot,"  remarked  M.  Mazure  solemnly. 
"  I  am  quite  willing  to  send  the  generals  to  the 
guillotine,  but  I  allow  no  one  to  dispute  the  de- 
cisions of  military  justice." 

1 08 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  109 

"  And  you  are  right,"  replied  M.  de  Terremondre, 
"  for  if  any  justice  is  worthy  of  respect,  it  is  that 
above  all  others.  And,  knowing  the  army  as  I  do, 
I  can  assure  you  that  there  are  no  judges  so  indulgent 
or  so  merciful  as  military  judges." 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  you  say  so,"  replied  M. 
Bergeret.  "  But  as  the  army  is  a  department 
just  the  same  as  agriculture,  finance  or  public 
instruction,  one  cannot  conceive  of  there  being 
such  a  thing  as  military  courts,  when  there  are 
neither  agricultural,  financial,  nor  university  courts. 
Any  peculiar  form  of  justice  is  directly  opposed  to 
the  fundamental  principles  of  modern  law.  The 
military  provostships  will  appear  as  old-fashioned 
and  barbarous  to  our  descendants  as  seigniorial  and 
ecclesiastical  courts  appear  to  us  to-day." 

"  You  are  joking  !  "  said  M.  de  Terremondre. 

"  That  is  what  has  been  said  of  every  prophet," 
replied  M.  Bergeret. 

"  But  if  you  attack  the  courts  martial,"  cried 
M.  de  Terremondre,  "  it  means  the  end  of  the 
Army,  and  therefore  the  end  of  the  country." 

M.  Bergeret's  reply  was  as  follows : 

"  When  the  priests  and  seigniors  were  deprived 
of  the  right  of  hanging  their  serfs,  people  thought 
it  meant  the  end  of  all  law  and  order.  Soon, 
however,  a  new  order  of  government  sprang  up, 
better  than  the  old  one.     What  I  say  is  this :   in 


no  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

limes  of  peace  let  the  soldier  be  judged  by  a  civil 
court.  Do  you  imagine  that  since  the  time  of 
Charles  VH,  or  even  since  Napoleon,  the  Army 
has  not  survived  more  drastic  innovations  than 
that  ?  " 

"  I  am  an  old  Jacobin,"  repeated  M.  Mazure. 
"  I  am  in  favour  of  courts  martial,  and  would 
have  the  heads  of  the  Army  subject  to  the 
authority  of  a  committee  of  public  safety.  There 
is  nothing  more  calculated  to  keep  them  up  to  the 
mark." 

"  That's  another  matter  altogether,"  said  M.  de 
Terremondre.  "  I  return  to  our  original  subject 
and  ask  M.  Bergeret  whether  he  honestly  believes 
it  possible  that  seven  officers  could  make  a  mistake?" 

"  Fourteen  !  "  cried  M.  Mazure. 

"  Fourteen,"  repeated  M.  de  Terremondre. 

"  I  do  believe  it  possible,"  said  M.  Bergeret. 

"  Fourteen  French  officers  !  "  ejaculated  M.  de 
Terremondre. 

"  Oh,  well,"  said  M.  Bergeret,  "  they  might  have 
been  Swiss,  Belgian,  Spanish,  German,  or  Dutch, 
and  have  made  just  as  bad  a  blunder." 

"  Impossible  !  "  cried  M.  de  Terremondre. 

The  librarian  Paillot  shook  his  head,  thereby 
meaning  to  express  the  fact  that  he  also  considered 
it  impossible.  And  his  clerk,  Leon,  looked  at  M. 
Bergeret  witli  indignant  surprise. 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  iii 

"  I  do  not  know  whether  you  will  ever  be  en- 
lightened," went  on  M.  Bergeret  sweetly.  "  I  do 
not  think  so,  although  all  things  are  possible,  even 
the  triumph  of  truth." 

"  You  mean  the  Revision,"  said  M.  de  Terre- 
mondre.  "  That,  never  !  You  will  never  succeed 
in  getting  the  Revision  ;  I  have  been  told  as  much 
by  three  Ministers  and  twenty  deputies." 

"  The  poet  Bouchor,"  replied  M.  Bergeret, 
"  teaches  us  that  it  is  better  to  endure  the  horrors 
of  war  than  to  commit  an  unjust  action.  But  such 
an  alternative  does  not  confront  you,  gentlemen, 
and  you  are  being  scared  with  lies." 

Just  as  M.  Bergeret  was  saying  this  a  great  noise 
was  heard  in  the  square  outside.  A  band  of  little 
boys  was  marching  past  and  shouting,  ^''A  has  Zola  ! 
Mort  aux  juifs!  "  They  were  on  their  way  to 
break  the  windows  of  Meyer,  the  bootmaker,  who 
was  supposed  to  be  a  Jew,  and  the  townsmen  in- 
dulgently watched  them  go  by. 

"  Fine  little  chaps !  "  cried  M.  de  Terremondre, 
when  the  demonstrators  had  filed  by. 

M.  Bergeret,  with  his  nose  buried  in  a  ponderous 
volume,  slowly  remarked : 

"  The  cause  of  liberty  had  only  the  very  smallest 
minority  of  educated  people  upon  her  side.  The 
clergy  almost  to  a  man,  the  generals  and  the  ignorant 
and  fanatical  mob  clamoured  for  a  master." 


112  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  What  is  that  you  are  saying  ?  "  asked  M. 
Mazure  excitedly. 

"  Nothing,"  replied  M.  Bergeret.  "  I  am  reading 
a  chapter  of  Spanish  history  which  describes  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  people  at  the  time  of 
the  restoration  of  Ferdinand  VH." 

The  bootmaker,  Meyer,  was  half  killed,  never- 
theless. He  did  not  complain,  for  fear  of  being 
killed  outright,  and  also  because  the  justice  of  the 
people,  together  with  that  of  the  Army,  filled  him 
with  mute  admiration. 


CHAPTER  VI 

BERGERET  was  not  unhappy,  for 
he  rejoiced  in  that  true  independ- 
ence which  comes  from  within,  and 
his  soul  was  unfettered.  Since  the  de- 
t|«  parture  of  his  wife  he  was  also  enjoy- 
ing the  sweets  of  solitude,  while  awaiting  the  arrival 
of  his  daughter  Pauline,  who  was  shortly  expected 
from  Arcachon  with  his  sister.  Mademoiselle  Ber- 
geret. 

He  looked  forward  to  a  happy  life  with  his 
daughter,  who  resembled  him  in  certain  turns  of 
mind  and  speech,  so  that  it  flattered  his  vanity  when 
people  praised  her. 

He  was  pleased  at  the  idea  of  seeing  his  sister  Zoe, 
an  old  maid,  who,  having  never  had  any  pretensions 
to  good  looks,  had  not  lost  her  natural  frankness  of 
disposition,  to  which  was  added  a  secret  delight  in 
making  herself  unpleasant,  but  who  lacked  neither 
wit  nor  kindliness. 

For  the  time  being,  however,  M.  Bergeret  v.as 
busy  settling  down  in  his  new  quarters.    He  hung 

"3 


114  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

his  views  of  Naples  and  Vesuvius,  legacies  both,  on 
the  walls  of  his  study.  Now  of  all  the  delights  per- 
mitted to  a  respectable  man,  there  is  perhaps  none 
which  procures  him  such  tranquil  enjoyment  as  that 
of  knocking  nails  into  a  wall.  The  keenest  pleasure 
of  that  experienced  voluptuary,  Comte  de  Caylus, 
was  unpacking  cases  of  Etruscan  pottery.  Thus 
M.  Bergeret  proceeded  to  hang  up  on  his  wall  an 
old  water-colour  representing  Vesuvius,  adorned 
with  an  aigrette  of  flame  and  smoke,  standing  out 
against  the  dark  blue  sky  of  midnight.  This  picture 
reminded  him  of  the  days  of  his  wondering  and 
enchanted  childhood. 

He  was  not  sad,  neither  was  he  glad.  He  had 
money  worries,  he  knew  the  unloveliness  of  poverty. 
"  A'loney  makes  the  man,"  as  Pindar  says  {Isth.  H). 

He  did  not  get  on  with  his  colleagues  or  his 
pupils.  He  did  not  get  on  with  the  townspeople  ; 
incapable  as  he  was  of  comprehending  either  their 
thoughts  or  their  feelings,  he  had  been  obliged  to 
withdraw  from  human  fellowship,  and  his  peculiar 
way  of  thinking  had  deprived  him  of  the  en- 
joyment of  that  genial  feeling  of  comradeship 
which  even  high  walls  and  closed  doors  cannot 
exclude. 

The  mere  fact  that  he  was  a  thinker  made  him 
a  strange  and  disturbing  element  suspected  by  all. 
He  was  even  a  source  of  worry  to  Paillot,  the  book- 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  115 

seller,  and  his  asylum  and  refuge,  the  corner  where 
the  old  books  were  kept,  was  no  longer  to  be  counted 
on.  In  spite  of  all  this  he  was  not  unhappy.  He 
set  about  arranging  his  books  on  the  deal  shelves  put 
up  by  the  carpenter,  and  took  pleasure  in  handling 
these  little  memorials  of  his  humble  contemplative 
life.  He  worked  with  zeal  at  his  task  of  getting 
things  straight,  and  when  he  tired  of  hanging 
pictures  or  arranging  furniture,  he  buried  himself 
deep  in  some  book,  with  a  lurking  feeling,  how- 
ever, that  he  ought  not  to  enjoy  it  because  it  was 
a  human  product,  yet  enjoying  it  notwithstanding. 
He  read  a  few  pages  on  "  the  progress  realized  by 
modern  society,"  and  his  reflections  ran  as  follows  : 

"  Let  us  be  humble  and  believe  ourselves  in  no 
way  excellent,  for  we  are  not  excellent.  As  we 
examine  ourselves,  let  us  uncover  our  true  coun- 
tenance, which  is  rough  and  violent  like  that  of  our 
forefathers,  and,  as  we  have  the  advantage  over 
them  of  a  longer  tradition,  let  us  at  least  recognize 
the  sequence  and  continuity  of  our  ignorance." 

Thus  pondered  M.  Bergeret,  as  he  settled  himself 
in  his  new  abode.  He  was  not  sad,  neither  was  he 
glad,  as  he  reflected  that  he  would  always  yearn  in 
vain  for  Madame  de  Gromance,  not  realizing  the 
fact  that  she  was  only  precious  to  hirn  by  virtue  of 
the  craving  which  she  inspired.  But  the  very 
derangement  of  his  feelings  prevented  him  from 


ii6  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

clearly  grasping  this  philosophical  truth.  He  was 
not  handsome,  he  was  not  young,  he  was  not  rich  ; 
he  was  not  sad,  because  his  wisdom  approached  the 
happy  state  of  ataraxy,  without,  however,  finally 
attaining  it,  and  he  was  not  glad,  because  he  was 
somewhat  of  a  sensualist,  and  his  soul  was  not  free 
from  illusions  and  desires. 

The  servant  Marie,  who  had  fulfilled  her  task  of 
bringing  terror  and  misery  into  the  house,  had  been 
dismissed,  and  in  her  place  he  had  engaged  a 
decent  woman  from  the  town,  whom  he  called 
Angelique,  but  who  was  spoken  of  as  Madame 
Borniche  by  the  shopkeepers  and  the  country-people 
in  the  market-place. 

Her  husband,  Nicolas  Borniche,  a  good  coach- 
man, but  a  bad  man,  had  deserted  her  when  she 
was  still  young  and  ugly.  She  had  been  in  service 
with  various  families.  Her  status  as  a  married  woman 
still  filled  her  with  a  certain  pride  not  always  con- 
cealed, and  with  a  great  fondness  for  managing. 
Finally,  she  was  by  way  of  being  a  herbalist  and  a 
healer,  something  of  a  sorceress,  and  filled  the  house 
with  a  pleasant  odour  of  herbs.  Full  of  genuine 
zeal,  she  was  obsessed  by  an  eternal  longing  for 
affection  and  approval.  From  the  very  first  she 
had  taken  to  M.  Bergeret,  on  account  of  the 
distinction  of  his  mind  and  the  gentleness  of  his 
manner,  but  she  awaited  the  arrival  of  Mademoiselle 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  117 

Bergeret  with  foreboding,  for  a  secret  presenti- 
ment told  her  that  she  would  not  get  on  well 
with  the  sister  from  Arcachon.  On  the  other 
hand,  she  pleased  M.  Bergeret,  who  was  at  last 
enjoying  peace  in  his  house  and  deliverance  from 
all  his  troubles. 

His  books,  which  heretofore  had  been  despised 
and  thrown  about,  were  now  displayed  upon  long 
shelves  in  the  big  sunny  room.  There  he  could 
work  in  quiet  at  his  Virgilius  nauticus,  and  indulge 
freely  in  silent  orgies  of  meditation.  Before  the 
window  a  young  plane  tree  gently  waved  its  pointed 
leaves,  and,  farther  away,  a  dark  buttress  of  Saint- 
Exupere  reared  its  j  agged  pinnacle,  in  which  grew  a 
cherry  tree,  doubtless  planted  there  by  a  bird. 

Seated  at  his  table  one  morning  in  front  of 
the  window,  against  which  the  leaves  of  the  plane 
tree  quivered,  M.  Bergeret,  who  was  trying  to 
discover  how  the  ships  of  ^Eneas  had  been  changed 
into  nymphs,  heard  a  tap  at  the  door,  and  forthwith 
his  servant  entered,  carrrying  in  front  of  her, 
opossum  -  like,  a  tiny  creature  whose  black  head 
peeped  out  from  the  folds  of  her  apron,  which  she 
had  turned  up  to  form  a  pocket.  With  a  look  of 
anxiety  and  hope  upon  her  face,  she  remained 
motionless  for  a  moment,  then  she  placed  the  little 
thing  upon  the  carpet  at  her  master's  feet. 

"  What's  that  ?  "  asked  M.  Bergeret. 


ii8  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

It  was  a  little  dog  of  doubtful  breed,  having 
something  of  the  terrier  in  him,  and  a  well-set  head, 
a  short,  smooth  coat  of  a  dark  tan  colour,  and  a  tiny 
little  stump  of  a  tail.  His  body  retained  its  puppy- 
like softness  and  he  went  sniffing  at  the  carpet. 

"  Angelique,"  said  M.  Bergeret,  "  take  this 
animal  back  to  its  owner." 

"  It  has  no  owner.  Monsieur." 

M.  Bergeret  looked  silently  at  the  little  creature 
who  had  come  to  examine  his  slippers,  and  was 
giving  little  sniffs  of  approval.  M.  Bergeret  was  a 
philologist,  which  perhaps  explains  why  at  this 
juncture  he  asked  a  vain  question. 

"  What  is  he  called  ?  " 

"  Monsieur,"  replied  Angelique,  ''  he  has  no 
name." 

M.  Bergeret  seemed  put  out  at  this  answer :  he 
looked  at  the  dog  sadly,  with  a  disheartened  air. 

Then  the  little  animal  placed  its  two  front  paws 
on  M.  Bergeret's  slipper,  and,  holding  it  thus,  began 
innocently  to  nibble  at  it.  With  a  sudden  access 
of  compassion  M.  Bergeret  took  the  tiny  nameless 
creature  upon  his  knees.  The  dog  looked  at  him 
intently,  and  M.  Bergeret  was  pleased  at  his  con- 
fiding expression. 

"  What  beautiful  eyes  !  "  he  cried. 

The  dog's  eyes  were  indeed  beautiful,  the  pupils 
of  a   golden-flecked  chestnut   set  in  warm  white. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  119 

And  his  gaze  spoke  of  simple,  mysterious  thoughts, 
common  alike  to  the  thoughtful  beasts  and  simple 
men  of  the  earth. 

Tired,  perhaps,  with  the  intellectual  effort  he 
had  made  for  the  purpose  of  entering  into  com- 
munication with  a  human  being,  he  closed  his 
beautiful  eyes,  and,  yawning  widely,  revealed  his 
pink  mouth,  his  curled-up  tongue,  and  his  array  of 
dazzling  teeth. 

M.  Bergeret  put  his  hand  into  the  dog's  mouth, 
and  allowed  him  to  lick  it,  at  which  old  Angelique 
gave  a  smile  of  relief. 

"  A  more  affectionate  little  creature  doesn't 
breathe,"  she  said. 

"  The  dog,"  said  M.  Bergeret,  "  is  a  religious 
animal.  In  his  savage  state  he  worships  the  moon 
and  the  lights  that  float  upon  the  waters.  These 
are  his  gods,  to  whom  he  appeals  at  night  with 
long-drawn  howls.  In  the  domesticated  state  he 
seeks  by  his  caresses  to  conciliate  those  powerful 
genii  who  dispense  the  good  things  of  this  world — 
to  wit,  men.  He  worships  and  honours  men  by  the 
accomplishment  of  the  rites  passed  down  to  him  by 
his  ancestors ;  he  licks  their  hand,  jumps  against 
their  legs,  and  when  they  show  signs  of  anger 
towards  him  he  approaches  them  crawling  on  his 
belly  as  a  sign  of  humility,  to  appease  their  wrath." 

"  All  dogs  are  not  the  friends  of  man,"  remarked 


I20  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Angelique.  "  Some  of  them  bite  the  hand  that 
feeds  them." 

"  Those  are  the  ungodly,  blasphemous  dogs," 
returned  M.  Bergeret,  "  insensate  creatures  like 
Ajax,  the  son  of  Telamon,  who  wounded  the  hand 
of  the  golden  Aphrodite.  These  sacrilegious  crea- 
tures die  a  dreadful  death  or  lead  wandering  and 
miserable  lives.  They  are  not  to  be  confounded 
with  those  dogs  who,  espousing  the  quarrel  of  their 
own  particular  god,  wage  war  upon  his  enemy,  the 
neighbouring  god.  They  are  heroes.  Such,  for  ex- 
ample, is  the  dog  of  Lafolie,  the  butcher,  who  fixed 
his  sharp  teeth  into  the  leg  of  the  tramp  Pied- 
d'Alouette.  For  it  is  a  fact  that  dogs  fight  among 
themselves  like  men,  and  Turk,  with  his  snub  nose, 
serves  his  god  Lafolie  against  the  robber  gods,  in  the 
same  way  that  Israel  helped  Jehovah  to  destroy 
Chamos  and  Moloch." 

The  puppy,  however,  having  decided  that  M. 
Bergeret's  remarks  were  the  reverse  of  interesting, 
curled  up  his  feet  and  stretched  out  his  head,  ready 
to  go  to  sleep  upon  the  knees  that  harboured  him. 

"  Where  did  you  find  him  ?  "  asked  M.  Bergeret. 

"  Well,  Monsieur,  it  was  M.  Dellion's  chef  gave 
him  to  me." 

"  With  the  result,"  continued  M.  Bergeret, 
"  that  we  now  have  this  soul  to  care  for." 

"  What  soul  ?  "  asked  Angelique. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  121 

"  This  canine  soul.  An  animal  is,  properly 
speaking,  a  soul ;  I  do  not  say  an  immortal  soul. 
And  yet,  when  I  come  to  consider  the  positions 
this  poor  little  beast  and  I  myself  occupy  in  the 
scheme  of  things,  I  recognize  in  both  exactly  the 
same  right  to  immortality." 

After  considerable  hesitation,  old  Angelique,  with 
a  painful  effort  that  made  her  upper  lip  curl  up 
and  reveal  her  two  remaining  teeth,  said : 

"  If  Monsieur  does  not  want  a  dog,  I  will  return 
him  to  M.  Dellion's  chef ;  but  you  may  safely  keep 
him,  I  assure  you.    You  won't  see  or  hear  him." 

She  had  hardly  finished  her  sentence  when  the 
puppy,  hearing  a  heavy  van  rolling  down  the  street, 
sat  bolt  upright  on  M.  Bergeret's  knees,  and  began 
to  bark  both  loud  and  long,  so  that  the  window- 
panes  resounded  with  the  noise. 

M.  Bergeret  smiled. 

"  He  is  a  watch-dog,"  said  Angelique,  by  way  of 
excuse.     "  They  are  by  far  the  most  faithful." 

"  Have  you  given  him  anything  to  eat  ?  "  asked 
M.  Bergeret. 

"  Of  course,"  returned  Angelique. 

"  What  does  he  eat  ?  " 

*'  Monsieur  must  be  aware  that  dogs  eat  bread 
and  meat." 

Somewhat  piqued,  M.  Bergeret  retorted  that 
in  her  eagerness  she  might  very  likely  have  taken  him 


122  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

away  from  his  mother  before  he  was  old  enough 
to  leave  her,  upon  which  he  was  lifted  up  again  and 
re-examined,  only  to  make  sure  of  the  fact  that  he 
was  at  least  six  months  old. 

M.  Bergeret  put  him  down  on  the  carpet,  and 
regarded  him  with  interest. 

"  Isn't  he  pretty  ?  "  said  the  servant. 

"  No,  he  is  not  pretty,"  replied  M.  Bergeret. 
"  But  he  is  engaging,  and  has  beautiful  eyes.  That 
is  what  people  used  to  say  about  me,"  added  the 
professor,  "  when  I  was  three  times  as  old,  and  not 
half  as  intelligent.  Since  then  I  have  no  doubt 
acquired  an  outlook  upon  the  universe  which  he  will 
never  attain.  But,  in  comparison  with  the  Abso- 
lute, I  may  say  that  my  knowledge  equals  his  in 
the  smallness  of  its  extent.  Like  his,  it  is  a  geo- 
metrical point  in  the  infinite."  Then,  addressing 
the  little  creature  who  was  sniffing  the  waste-paper 
basket,  he  went  on :  "  Smell  it  out,  sniff  it  well, 
take  from  the  outside  world  all  the  knowledge  that 
can  reach  your  simple  brain  through  the  medium 
of  that  black  truffle-like  nose  of  yours.  And  what 
though  I  at  the  same  time  observe,  and  compare, 
and  study?  We  shall  never  know,  neither  the  one 
nor  the  other  of  us,  why  we  have  been  put  into 
this  world,  and  what  we  are  doing  in  it.  What  are 
we  here  for,  eh  ?  " 

As    he    had    spoken    rather    loudly,    the    puppy 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  123 

looked  at  him  anxiously,  and  M.  Bergeret,  returning 
to  the  thought  which  had  first  filled  his  mind,  said 
to  the  servant : 

"  We  must  give  him  a  name." 

With  her  hands  folded  in  front  of  her  she  re- 
plied laughingly  that  that  would  not  be  a  difficult 
matter. 

Upon  which  M.  Bergeret  made  the  private 
reflection  that  to  the  simple  all  things  are  simple, 
but  that  clear-sighted  souls,  who  look  upon  things 
from  many  and  divers  aspects,  invisible  to  the  vulgar 
mind,  experience  the  greatest  diflSculty  in  coming 
to  a  decision  about  even  the  most  trivial  matters. 
And  he  cudgelled  his  brains,  trying  to  hit  upon  a 
name  for  the  little  living  thing  who  was  busily 
engaged  in  nibbling  the  fringe  of  the  carpet. 

"  All  the  names  of  dogs,"  thought  he,  "  preserved 
in  the  ancient  treatises  of  the  huntsmen  of  old, 
such  as  Fouilloux,  and  in  the  verses  of  our  sylvan 
poets  such  as  La  Fontaine — Finaud,  Miraut,  Brif- 
faut,  Ravaud,  and  such-like  names,  are  given  to 
sporting  dogs,  who  are  the  aristocracy  of  the 
kennel,  the  chivalry  of  the  canine  race.  The  dog 
of  Ulysses  was  called  Argos,  and  he  was  a  hunter 
too,  so  Homer  tells  us.  '  In  his  youth  he  hunted  the 
little  hares  of  Ithaca,  but  now  he  was  ojd  and  hunted 
no  more.'  What  we  require  is  something  quite 
different.  The  names  given  by  old  maids  to  their 
I 


124  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

lap-dogs  would  be  more  suitable  were  they  not 
usually  pretentious  and  absurd.  Azor,  for  instance, 
is  ridiculous  !  " 

So  M.  Bergeret  ruminated,  calling  to  memory 
many  a  dog  name,  without  being  able  to  decide, 
however,  on  one  that  pleased  him.  He  would  have 
liked  to  invent  a  name,  but  lacked  the  imagination. 

"  What  day  is  it  ?  "  he  asked  at  last. 

"  The  ninth,"  replied  Angelique,  "  Thursday, 
the  ninth." 

"  Well,  then  !  "  said  M.  Bergeret,  "  can't  we 
call  the  dog  Thursday,  like  Robinson  Crusoe  who 
called  his  man  Friday,  for  the  same  reason  ?  " 

"  As  Monsieur  pleases,"  said  Angelique.  "  But 
it  isn't  very  pretty." 

"  Very  well,"  said  M.  Bergeret,  "  find  a  name  for 
the  creature  yourself,  for,  after  all,  you  brought 
him  here." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  the  servant.  "  I  couldn't  find  a 
name  for  him,  I'm  not  clever  enough.  When  I  saw 
him  lying  on  the  straw  in  the  kitchen,  I  called  him 
Riquet,  and  he  came  up  and  played  about  under 
my  skirts." 

"  You  called  him  Riquet,  did  you  ?  "  cried  M. 
Bergeret.  "  Why  didn't  you  say  so  before  ?  Riquet 
he  is  and  Riquet  he  shall  remain,  that's  settled. 
Now  be  off  with  you,  and  take  Riquet  with  you. 
I  want  to  work." 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  125 

"  Monsieur,"  returned  Angelique,  "  I  am  going 
to  leave  the  puppy  with  you  ;  I  will  come  for 
him  when  I  get  back  from  market." 

"  You  could  quite  well  take  him  to  market  with 
you,"  retorted  M.  Bergerct. 

"  Monsieur,  I  am  going  to  church  as  well." 

It  was  quite  true  that  she  really  was  going  to 
church  at  Saint-Exupere,  to  ask  for  a  Mass  to  be 
said  for  the  repose  of  her  husband's  soul.  She  did 
that  regularly  once  a  year,  not  that  she  had  ever 
been  informed  of  the  decease  of  Borniche,  who  had 
never  communicated  with  her  since  his  desertion, 
but  it  was  a  settled  thing  in  the  good  woman's 
mind  that  Borniche  was  dead.  She  had  therefore 
no  fear  of  his  coming  to  rob  her  of  the  little  she 
had,  and  did  her  best  to  fix  things  up  to  his  advan- 
tage in  the  other  world,  so  long  as  he  left  her  in 
peace  in  this  one. 

"  Eh  !  "  ejaculated  M.  Bergeret.  "  Shut  him  up 
in  the  kitchen  or  some  other  convenient  place,  and 
do  not  wor " 

He  did  not  finish  his  sentence,  for  Angelique 
had  vanished,  purposely  pretending  not  to  hear, 
that  she  might  leave  Riquet  with  his  master.  She 
wanted  them  to  grow  used  to  one  another,  and  she 
also  wanted  to  give  poor,  friendless  M.  Bergeret  a 
companion.  Having  closed  the  door  behind  her, 
she  went  along  the  corridor  and  down  the  steps. 


126  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

M.  Bergeret  set  to  work  again  and  plunged  head 
foremost  into  his  Virgilius  nauticus.  He  loved  the 
work ;  it  rested  his  thoughts,  and  became  a  kind 
of  game  that  suited  him,  for  he  played  it  all  by 
himself.  On  the  table  beside  him  were  several 
boxes  filled  with  pegs,  which  he  fixed  into  little 
squares  of  cardboard  to  represent  the  fleet  of  ^Eneas. 
Now  while  he  was  thus  occupied  he  felt  something 
like  tiny  fists  tapping  at  his  legs.  Riquet,  whom 
he  had  quite  forgotten,  was  standing  on  his  hind 
legs  patting  his  master's  knees,  and  wagging  his 
little  stump  of  a  tail.  When  he  tired  of  this,  he  let 
his  paws  slide  down  the  trouser  leg,  then  got  up 
and  began  his  coaxing  over  again.  And  M.  Bergeret, 
turning  away  from  the  printed  lore  before  him, 
saw  two  brown  eyes  gazing  up  at  him  lovingly. 

"  What  gives  a  human  beauty  to  the  gaze  of  this 
dog,"  he  thought,  "  is  probably  that  it  varies  unceas- 
ingly, being  by  turns  bright  and  vivacious  or  serious 
and  sorrowful ;  because  through  these  eyes  his 
little  dumb  soul  finds  expression  for  thought  that 
lacks  nothing  in  depth  nor  sequence.  My  father 
was  very  fond  of  cats,  and,  consequently,  I  liked 
them  too.  He  used  to  declare  that  cats  are  the 
wise  man's  best  companions,  for  they  respect  his 
studious  hours.  Bajazet,  his  Persian  cat,  would 
sit  at  night  for  hours  at  a  stretch,  motionless  and 
majestic,  perched  on  a  corner  of  his  table.     I  still 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  127 

remember  the  agate  eyes  of  Bajazet,  but  those  jewel- 
like orbs  concealed  all  thought,  that  owl-like  stare 
was  cold,  and  hard,  and  wicked.  How  much  do  I 
prefer  the  melting  gaze  of  the  dog  !  " 

Riquet,  however,  was  agitating  his  paws  in 
frantic  fashion,  and  M.  Bergeret,  who  was  anxious 
to  return  to  his  philological  amusements,  said 
kindly,  but  shortly : 

"  Lie  down,  Riquet  !  " 

Upon  which  Riquet  went  and  thrust  his  nose 
against  the  door  through  which  Angelique  had  passed 
out.  And  there  he  remained,  uttering  from  time  to 
time  plaintive,  meek  little  cries.  After  a  while  he 
began  to  scratch,  making  a  gentle  rasping  noise  on 
the  polished  floor  with  his  nails.  Then  the  whining 
began  again  followed  by  more  scratching.  Disturbed 
by  these  sounds,  M.  Bergeret  sternly  bade  him.  keep 
still. 

Riquet  peered  at  him  sorrowfully  with  his  brown 
eyes,  then,  sitting  down,  he  looked  at  M.  Bergeret 
again,  rose,  returned  to  the  door,  sniffed  underneath 
it,  and  wailed  afresh. 

"  Do  you  want  to  go  out  ?  "  asked  M.  Bergeret. 

Putting  down  his  pen,  he  went  to  the  door,  which 
he  held  a  few  inches  open.  After  making  sure  that 
he  was  running  no  risk  of  hurting  himself  on  the 
way  out,  Riquet  slipped  through  the  doorway  and 
marched  off  with  a  composure  that  was  scarcely 


128  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

polite.  On  returning  to  his  table,  M.  Bergeret, 
sensitive  man  that  he  was,  pondered  over  the  dog's 
action.    He  said  to  himself  : 

"  I  was  on  the  point  of  reproaching  the  animal 
for  going  without  saying  either  good-bye  or  thank 
you,  and  expecting  him  to  apologize  for  leaving  me. 
It  was  the  beautiful  human  expression  of  his  eyes 
that  made  me  so  foolish.  I  was  beginning  to  look 
upon  him  as  one  of  my  own  kind." 

After  making  this  reflection  M.  Bergeret  applied 
himself  anew  to  the  metamorphosis  of  the  ships 
of  ^neas,  a  legend  both  pretty  and  popular,  but 
perhaps  a  trifle  too  simple  in  itself  for  expression 
in  such  noble  language.  M.  Bergeret,  however, 
saw  nothing  incongruous  in  it.  He  knew  that  the 
nursery  tales  have  furnished  material  for  nearly  all 
epics,  and  that  Virgil  had  carefully  collected  together 
in  his  poem  the  riddles,  the  puns,  the  uncouth 
stories,  and  the  puerile  imaginings  of  his  fore- 
fathers ;  that  Homer,  his  master  and  the  master 
of  all  the  bards,  had  done  little  more  than  tell  over 
again  what  the  good  wives  of  Ionia  and  the  fisher- 
men of  the  islands  had  been  narrating  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years  before  him.  Besides,  for 
the  time  being  this  was  the  least  of  his  worries ;  he 
had  another  far  more  important  preoccupation.  An 
expression,  met  with  in  the  course  of  the  charming 
story  of  the  metamorphosis,  did  not  appear  sufii- 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  129 

ciently  plain  to  him.    That  was  what  was  worrying 
him. 

"  Bergeret,  my  friend,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  this 
is  where  you  must  open  your  eyes  and  show  your 
sense.  Remember  that  Virgil  always  expresses 
himself  with  extreme  precision  when  writing  on 
the  technique  of  the  arts ;  remember  that  he  went 
yachting  at  Baiae,  that  he  was  an  expert  in  naval 
construction,  and  that  therefore  his  language,  in 
this  passage,  must  have  a  precise  and  definite  signifi- 
cation." 

And  M.  Bergeret  carefully  consulted  a  great 
number  of  texts,  in  order  to  throw  a  light  upon  the 
word  which  he  could  not  understand,  and  which  he 
had  to  explain.  He  was  almost  on  the  point  of  grasping 
the  solution,  or,  at  any  rate,  he  had  caught  a  glimpse 
of  it,  when  he  heard  a  noise  like  the  rattling  of 
chains  at  his  door,  a  noise  which,  although  not 
alarming,  struck  him  as  curious.  The  disturbance 
was  presently  accompanied  by  a  shrill  whining,  and 
M.  Bergeret,  interrupted  in  his  philological  investi- 
gations, immediately  concluded  that  these  importu- 
nate wails  must  emanate  from  Riquet. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  after  having  looked  vainly  all 
over  the  house  for  Angelique,  Riquet  had  been 
seized  with  a  desire  to  see  M.  Bergeret  again. 
Solitude  was  as  painful  to  him  as  human  society  was 
dear.    In  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  noise,  and  also 


130  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

because  he  had  a  secret  desh^e  to  see  Riquet  again, 
M.  Bergeret  got  up  from  his  arm-chair  and  opened 
the  door,  and  Riquet  re-entered  the  study  with  the 
same  coolness  with  which  he  had  quitted  it,  but  as 
soon  as  he  saw  the  door  close  behind  him  he  assumed 
a  melancholy  expression,  and  began  to  wander  up 
and  down  the  room  like  a  soul  in  torment. 

He  had  a  sudden  way  of  appearing  to  find  some- 
thing of  interest  beneath  the  chairs  and  tables,  and 
would  sniff  long  and  noisily  ;  then  he  would  walk 
aimlessly  about  or  sit  down  in  a  corner  with  an  air 
of  great  humility,  like  the  beggars  who  are  to  be 
seen  in  church  porches.  Finally  he  began  to  bark 
at  a  cast  of  Hermes  which  stood  upon  the  mantel- 
shelf, \vhereupon  M.  Bergeret  addressed  him  in 
words  full  of  just  reproach. 

"  Riquet !  such  vain  agitation,  such  sniffing  and 
barking  were  better  suited  to  a  stable  than  to  the 
study  of  a  professor,  and  they  lead  one  to  suppose 
that  your  ancestors  lived  with  horses  whose  straw 
litters  they  shared.  I  do  not  reproach  you  with  that. 
It  is  only  natural  you  should  have  inherited  their 
habits,  manners,  and  tendencies  as  well  as  their 
close-cropped  coat,  their  sausage-like  body,  and  their 
long,  thin  nose.  I.  do  not  speak  of  your  beautiful 
eyes,  for  there  are  few  men,  few  dogs  even,  who 
can  open  such  beauties  to  the  light  of  day.  But, 
leaving  all  that  aside,  you  are  a  mongrel,  my  friend,  a 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  131 

mongrel  from  your  short,  bandy  legs  to  your  head. 
Again  I  am  far  from  despising  you  for  that.  What 
I  want  you  to  understand  is  that  if  you  desire  to 
live  with  me,  you  will  have  to  drop  your  mongrel 
manners  and  behave  like  a  scalar,  in  other  words, 
to  remain  silent  and  quiet,  to  respect  work,  after 
the  manner  of  Bajazet,  who  of  a  night  would  sit  for 
four  hours  without  stirring,  and  watch  my  father's 
pen  skimming  over  the  paper.  He  was  a  silent  and 
tactful  creature.  How  different  is  your  own  character, 
my  friend  !  Since  you  came  into  this  chamber  of 
study  your  hoarse  voice,  your  unseemly  snufflings 
and  your  whines,  that  sound  like  steam  whistles, 
have  constantly  confused  my  thoughts  and  inter- 
rupted my  reflections.  And  now  you  have  made  me 
lose  the  drift  of  an  important  passage  in  Servius, 
referring  to  the  construction  of  one  of  the  ships 
of  ^neas.  Know  then,  Riquet,  my  friend,  that 
this  is  the  house  of  silence  and  the  abode  of  medita- 
tion, and  that  if  you  are  anxious  to  stay  here  you 
must  become  literary.     Be  quiet  !  " 

Thus  spoke  M.  Bergeret.  Riquet,  who  had 
listened  to  him  with  mute  astonishment,  approached 
his  master,  and  with  suppliant  gesture  placed  a 
timid  paw  upon  the  knee,  which  he  seemed  to 
revere  in  a  fashion  that  savoured  of  long  ago. 
Then  a  kind  thought  struck  M.  Bergeret.  He  picked 
him  up  by  the  scruff  of  his  neck,  and  put  him  upon 


132  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

the  cushions  of  the  ample  easy  chair  in  which  he 
was  sitting.  Turning  himself  round  three  times, 
Riquet  lay  down,  and  then  remained  perfectly  still 
and  silent.  He  was  quite  happy.  M.  Bergeret  was 
grateful  to  him,  and  as  he  ran  through  Servius  he 
occasionally  stroked  the  close-cropped  coat,  which, 
without  being  soft,  was  smooth  and  very  pleasant 
to  the  touch.  Riquet  fell  into  a  gentle  doze,  and 
communicated  to  his  master  the  generous  warmth  of 
his  body,  the  subtle,  gentle  heat  of  a  living,  breathing 
thing.  And  from  that  moment  M.  Bergeret  found 
more  pleasure  in  his  Virgilius  nauticus. 

From  floor  to  ceiling  his  study  was  lined  with  deal 
shelves,  bearing  books  arranged  in  methodical  order. 
One  glance,  and  all  that  remains  to  us  of  Latin 
thought  was  ready  to  his  hand.  The  Greeks  lay 
half-way  up.  In  a  quiet  corner,  easy  of  access, 
were  Rabelais,  the  excellent  story-tellers  of  the 
Cent  nouvelles  nouvelles,  Bonaventure  des  Periers, 
Guillaume  Bouchet,  and  all  the  old  French  "  con- 
teurs"  whom  M.  Bergeret  considered  better  adapted 
to  humanity  than  writings  in  the  more  heroic  style, 
and  who  were  the  favourite  reading  of  his  leisure. 
He  only  possessed  them  in  cheap  modern  editions, 
but  he  had  discovered  a  poor  bookbinder  in  the  town 
who  covered  his  volumes  with  leaves  from  a  book 
of  anthems,  and  it  gave  M.  Bergeret  the  keenest 
pleasure  to  see  these  free-spoken  gentlemen  thus 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  133 

clad  in  Requiems  and  Misereres.  This  was  the  sole 
luxury  and  the  only  peculiarity  of  his  austere 
library.  The  other  books  were  paper-backed  or 
bound  in  poor  and  worn-out  bindings.  The  gentle 
friendly  manner  in  which  they  were  handled  by 
their  owner  gave  them  the  look  of  tools  set  out  in 
a  busy  man's  workshop.  The  books  on  archaeology 
and  art  found  a  resting-place  on  the  highest  shelves, 
not  by  any  means  out  of  contempt,  but  because 
they  were  not  so  often  used. 

Now  while  M.  Bergeret  worked  at  his  Virgilius 
nauticus  and  shared  his  chair  with  Riquet,  he  found, 
as  chance  would  have  it,  that  it  was  necessary  to 
consult  Ottfried  Miiller's  little  Manual,  which 
happened  to  be  on  one  of  the  topmost  shelves. 

There  was  no  need  of  one  of  those  tall  ladders 
on  wheels  topped  by  railings  and  a  shelf,  to  enable 
him  to  reach  the  book  ;  there  were  ladders  of  this 
description  in  the  town  library,  and  they  had  been 
used  by  all  the  great  book-lovers  of  the  eighteenth 
and  nineteenth  centuries ;  indeed,  several  of  the 
latter  had  fallen  from  them,  and  thus  died  honour- 
able deaths,  in  the  manner  spoken  of  in  the  pamphlet 
entitled  :  Des  bibliophiles  qui  moiirurent  en  tombant  de 
leur  echelle. 

No,  indeed  !  M.  Bergeret  had  no  need  of  any- 
thing of  the  sort.  A  small  pair  of  folding  steps 
would    have  served    his    purpose   excellently  well, 


134  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

and  he  had  once  seen  some  in  the  shop  of  Cleram- 
baut,  the  cabinet-maker,  in  the  Rue  de  Josde. 
They  folded  up,  and  looked  just  the  thing  with 
their  bevelled  uprights  each  pierced  with  a  trefoil 
as  a  grip  for  the  hand.  M.  Bergeret  would  have 
given  anything  to  possess  them,  but  the  state  of  his 
finances,  which  were  somewhat  involved,  forced 
him  to  abandon  the  idea.  No  one  knew  better  than 
he  did  that  financial  ills  are  not  mortal,  but,  for  all 
that,  he  had  no  steps  in  his  study. 

In  place  of  such  a  pair  of  steps  he  used  an  old 
cane-bottomed  chair,  the  back  of  which  had  been 
broken,  leaving  only  two  horns  or  antennae,  which 
had  shewn  themselves  to  be  more  dangerous  than 
useful.  So  they  had  been  cut  to  the  level  of  the 
seat,  and  the  chair  had  become  a  stool.  There 
were  two  reasons  why  this  stool  was  ill-fitted  to  the 
use  to  which  M.  Bergeret  was  wont  to  put  it.  In 
the  first  place  the  woven-cane  seat  had  grown  slack 
with  long  use,  and  now  contained  a  large  hollow, 
making  one's  foothold  precarious.  In  the  second 
place  the  stool  was  too  low,  and  it  was  hardly 
possible  when  standing  upon  it  to  reach  the  books 
on  the  highest  shelf,  even  with  the  finger-tips.  What 
generally  happened  was  that  in  the  endeavour  to 
grasp  one  book  several  others  fell  out,  and  it  depended 
upon  their  being  bound  or  paper-covered  whether 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  135 

they  lay  with  broken  corners  or  sprawled  with 
leaves  spread  like  a  fan  or  a  concertina. 

Now  with  the  intention  of  getting  down  the 
Manual  of  Ottfried  Miiller,  M.  Bergeret  quitted 
the  chair  he  was  sharing  with  Riquet,  who,  rolled 
into  a  ball  with  his  head  tight  pressed  to  his  body,  lay 
in  warm  comfort,  opening  one  voluptuous  eye,  which 
he  reclosed  as  quickly.  Then  M.  Bergeret  drew  the 
stool  from  the  dark  corner  where  it  was  hidden  and 
placed  it  where  it  was  required,  hoisted  himself 
upon  it,  and  managed  by  making  his  arm  as  long  as 
possible,  and  straining  upon  tiptoe  to  touch,  first 
with  one  then  with  two  fingers,  the  back  of  a  book 
which  he  judged  to  be  the  one  he  was  needing.  As 
for  the  thumb  it  remained  below  the  shelf  and 
rendered  no  assistance  whatever.  M.  Bergeret, 
who  found  it  therefore  exceedingly  difficult  to 
draw  out  the  book,  made  the  reflection  that  the 
reason  why  the  hand  is  a  precious  implement  is  on 
account  of  the  position  of  the  thumb,  and  that  no 
being  could  rise  to  be  an  artist  who  had  four  feet 
and  no  hands. 

"  It  is  to  the  hand,"  he  reflected,  "  that  men  owe 
their  power  of  becoming  engineers,  painters,  writers, 
and  manipulators  of  all  kinds  of  things.  If  they 
had  not  a  thumb  as  well  as  their  other  fingers,  they 
would  be  as  incapable  as  I  am  at  this  moment, 
and  they  could  never  have  changed  the  face  of  the 


136  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

earth  as  they  have  done.  Beyond  a  doubt  it  is  the 
shape  of  the  hand  that  has  assured  to  man  the 
conquest  of  the  world." 

Then,  almost  simultaneously,  M.  Bergeret  re- 
membered that  monkeys,  who  possess  four  hands, 
have  not,  for  all  that,  created  the  arts,  nor  disposed 
the  earth  to  their  use,  and  he  erased  from  his  mind 
the  theory  upon  which  he  had  just  embarked. 
However,  he  did  the  best  he  could  with  his  four 
fingers.  It  must  be  known  that  Ottfried  Miiller's 
Manual  is  composed  of  three  volumes  and  an  atlas. 
M.  Bergeret  wanted  Volume  I.  He  pulled  out 
first  the  second  volume,  then  the  atlas,  then  volume 
three,  and  finally  the  book  that  he  required.  At  last 
he  held  it  in  his  hands.  All  that  now  remained  for 
him  to  do  was  to  descend,  and  this  he  was  about  to  do 
when  the  cane  seat  gave  way  beneath  his  foot,  which 
passed  through  it.  He  lost  his  balance  and  fell  to 
the  ground,  not  as  heavily  as  might  have  been 
feared,  for  he  broke  his  fall  by  grasping  at  one  of 
the  uprights  of  the  bookshelf. 

He  was  on  the  ground,  however,  full  of  astonish- 
ment, and  wearing  on  one  leg  the  broken  chair  ;  his 
whole  body  was  permeated  and  as  though  constricted 
by  a  pain  that  spread  all  over  it,  and  that  presently 
settled  itself  more  particularly  in  the  region  of  the 
left  elbow  and  hip  upon  which  he  had  fallen. 
But,  as  his  anatomy  was  not  seriously  damaged,  he 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  137 

gathered  his  wits  together  ;  he  had  got  so  far  as  to 
realize  that  he  must  draw  his  right  leg  out  of  the 
stool  in  which  it  had  so  unfortunately  become 
entangled,  and  that  he  must  be  careful  to  raise 
himself  up  on  his  right  side,  which  was  unhurt. 
He  was  even  trying  to  put  this  into  execution  when 
he  felt  a  warm  breath  upon  his  cheek,  and,  turning 
his  eyes,  which  fright  and  pain  had  for  the  moment 
fixed,  he  saw  close  to  his  cheek  Riquet's  little  face. 
At  the  sound  of  the  fall  Riquet  had  jumped 
down  from  the  chair  and  run  to  his  unfortunate 
master  ;  he  was  now  standing  near  him  in  a  state 
of  great  excitement  ;  then  he  commenced  to  run 
round  him.  First  he  came  near  out  of  sympathy, 
then  he  retreated  out  of  fear  of  some  mysterious 
danger.  He  understood  perfectly  well  that  a 
misfortune  had  taken  place,  but  he  was  neither 
thoughtful  nor  clever  enough  to  discover  what  it 
was ;  hence  his  anxiety.  His  fidelity  drew  him  to  his 
suffering  friend,  and  his  prudence  stopped  him  on 
the  very  brink  of  the  fatal  spot.  Encouraged  at 
length  by  the  calm  and  silence  which  eventually 
reigned,  he  licked  M.  Bergeret's  neck  and  looked  at 
him  with  eyes  of  fear  and  of  love.  The  fallen 
master  smiled,  and  the  dog  licked  the  end  of  his 
nose.  It  was  a  great  comfort  to  M.  Bergeret,  who 
freed  his  right  leg,  stood  erect,  and  limped  good- 
humouredly  back  to  his  chair. 


138  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Riquet  was  there  before  him.  All  that  could  be 
seen  of  his  eyes  was  a  gleam  between  the  narrow  slit 
of  the  half-closed  lids.  He  seemed  to  have  forgotten 
all  about  the  adventure  that  a  moment  before  had  so 
stirred  them  both.  The  little  creature  lived  in  the 
present,  with  no  thought  of  time  that  had  run  its 
course ;  not  that  he  was  wanting  in  memory,  inas- 
much as  he  could  remember,  not  his  own  past  alone, 
but  the  far-away  past  of  his  ancestors,  and  his  little 
head  was  a  rich  storehouse  of  useful  knowledge  ;  but 
he  took  no  pleasure  in  remembrance,  and  memory 
was  not  for  him,  as  it  was  for  M.  Bergeret,  a  divine 
muse. 

Gently  stroking  the  short,  smooth  coat  of  his  com- 
panion, M.  Bergeret  addressed  him  in  the  following 
affectionate  terms : 

"  Dog  !  at  the  price  of  the  repose  which  is  dear  to 
your  heart,  you  came  to  me  when  I  was  dismayed 
and  brought  low.  You  did  not  laugh,  as  any  young 
person  of  my  own  species  would  have  done.  It  is 
true  that  however  joyous  or  terrible  nature  may 
appear  to  you  at  times,  she  never  inspires  you  with 
a  sense  of  the  ridiculous.  And  it  is  for  that  very 
reason,  because  of  your  innocent  gravity,  that  you 
are  the  surest  friend  a  man  can  have.  In  the  first 
instance  I  inspired  confidence  and  admiration  in 
you,  and  now  you  show  me  pity. 

"  Dog  !  when  we  first  met  on  the  highway  of  life, 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  139 

we  came  from  the  two  poles  of  creation  ;  we  be- 
long to  different  species.  I  refer  to  this  with  no 
desire  to  take  advantage  of  it,  but  rather  with  a 
strong  sense  of  universal  brotherhood.  We  have 
hardly  been  acquainted  two  hours,  and  my  hand 
has  never  yet  fed  you.  What  can  be  the  meaning 
of  the  obscure  love  for  me  that  has  sprung  up  in 
your  little  heart  ?  The  sympathy  you  bestow  on 
me  is  a  charming  mystery,  and  I  accept  it.  Sleep, 
friend,  in  the  place  that  you  have  chosen  !  " 

Having  thus  spoken,  M.  Bergeret  turned  over 
the  leaves  of  Ottfried  Miiller's  Manual,  which  with 
marvellous  instinct  he  had  kept  in  his  hand  both 
during  and  after  his  fall.  He  turned  over  the  pages, 
and  could  not  find  what  he  sought. 

Every  movement,  however,  seemed  to  increase 
the  pain  he  was  feeling. 

"  I  believe,"  he  thought,  "  that  the  whole  of  my 
left  side  is  bruised  and  my  hip  swollen.  I  have  a 
suspicion  that  my  right  leg  is  grazed  all  over  and 
my  left  elbow  aches  and  burns,  but  shall  I  cavil 
at  pain  that  has  led  me  to  the  discovery  of  a 
friend  ?  " 

His  reflexions  were  running  thus  when  old  An- 
gelique,  breathless  and  perspiring,  entered  the 
study.  She  first  opened  the  door,  and  then  she 
knocked,  for  she  never  permitted  herself  to  enter 
without  knocking.     If  she  had  not  done  so  before 


140  THE  AMETHYST   RING 

she  opened  the  door,  she  did  it  after,  for  she  had 
good  manners,  and  knew  what  was  expected  of  her. 
She  went  in  therefore,  knocked,  and  said : 

"  Monsieur,  I  have  come  to  reHeve  you  of  the 
dog." 

M.  Bergeret  heard  these  words  with  decided 
annoyance.  He  had  not  as  yet  inquired  into  his 
claims  to  Riquet,  and  now  reaHzed  that  he  had  none. 
The  thought  that  Madame  Borniche  might  take 
the  animal  away  from  him  filled  him  with  sadness, 
yet,  after  all,  Riquet  did  belong  to  her.  Affecting 
indifference,  he  replied : 

"  He's  asleep  ;    let  him  sleep  !  " 

"  Where  is  he  ?  I  don't  see  him,"  remarked  old 
Angelique. 

"  Here  he  is,"  answered  M.  Bergeret.  "  In  my 
chair." 

With  her  two  hands  clasped  over  her  portly 
figure,  old  Angelique  smiled,  and,  in  a  tone  of 
gentle  mockery,  ventured : 

"  I  wonder  what  pleasure  the  creature  can  find 
in  sleeping  there  behind  Monsieur  !  " 

"  That,"  retorted  M.  Bergeret,  "  is  his  busi- 
ness." 

Then,  as  he  was  of  an  inquiring  mind,  he  im- 
mediately sought  of  Riquet  his  reasons  for  the 
selection  of  his  resting-place,  and  lighting  on  them, 
replied  with  his  accustomed  candour : 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  141 

"  I  keep  him  warm,  and  my  presence  affords  a 
sense  of  security ;  my  comrade  is  a  chilly  and 
homely  little  animal."  Then  he  added:  "  Do  you 
know,  Angeliquc  ?  I  will  go  out  presently  and  buy 
him  a  collar." 


CHAPTER  VII 

lONSIEUR  LETERRIER,  the  rector, 
who  was  of  an  arbitrary  turn  of 
mind,  and  whose  philosophy  leaned 
towards  spiritualism,  had  never  felt 
much  sympathy  for  the  critical  in- 
tellect of  M.  Bergeret.  A  circumstance,  memorable 
enough,  had,  however,  brought  them  together. 
M.  Leterrier  had  taken  part  in  the  Affair.  He 
had  signed  a  protest  against  the  verdict,  which  he 
conscientiously  considered  illegal  and  mistaken. 
No  sooner  had  he  done  so  than  he  became  the 
object  of  public  anger  and  contempt. 

The  town,  which  numbered  150,000  inhabitants, 
only  contained  five  people  of  the  same  opinion  as 
himself  with  regard  to  the  Affair  ;  these  were 
M.  Bergeret,  his  colleague  at  the  Faculte,  two 
artillery  officers,  and  M.  Eusebe  Boulet.  The 
two  officers  maintained  the  strictest  silence  on  the 
subject,  and  the  position  of  M.  Eusebe  Boulet,  as 
editor  of  the  Phare,  compelled  him  to  express  daily, 
and  with  no  little  violence,  ideas  which  were  con- 

142 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  143 

trary  to  his  convictions,  to  rail  at  M.  Leterrier, 
and  hold  him  up  to  the  scorn  of  all  right-minded 
people. 

M.  Bergeret  had  written  a  letter  of  congratulation 
to  his  rector,  and  M.  Leterrier  called  upon  him. 

"  Do  you  not  think,"  said  M.  Leterrier,  "  that 
truth  contains  a  power  that  renders  her  invincible, 
and,  sooner  or  later,  ensures  her  final  triumph  ? 
This  was  the  belief  of  the  great  Ernest  Renan  ;  it 
has  also  been  expressed  more  recently  in  words 
worthy  to  be  engraved  in  bronze." 

"  It  is  precisely  what  I,  personally,  do  not  think," 
returned  M.  Bergeret.  "  On  the  contrary,  I  opine 
that  in  the  majority  of  cases  truth  is  likely  to  fall  a 
victim  to  the  disdain  or  insults  of  mankind  and  to 
perish  in  obscurity.  I  could  give  you  many  in- 
stances of  this.  Remember,  my  dear  sir,  that  truth 
has  so  many  points  of  inferiority  to  falsehood  as 
practically  to  be  doomed  to  extinction.  To  begin 
with,  truth  stands  alone  ;  she  stands  alone  as  M. 
I'Abbe  Lantaigne  says ;  for  which  reason  he 
admires  her.  But  there  are  no  real  grounds  for 
such  admiration,  for  falsehood  is  manifold,  and  so 
truth  has  numbers  arrayed  against  her.  That  is 
not  her  only  shortcoming.  She  is  inert,  is  not 
capable  of  modification,  is  not  adapted  to  those 
machinations  which  would  enable  her  to  win  her 
way  into  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men.     Falsehood, 


144  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

on  the  other  hand,  possesses  the  most  wonderful 
resources.  She  is  pliant  and  tractable,  and,  what  is 
more  (we  must  not  shrink  from  admitting  as  much), 
she  is  natural  and  moral.  She  is  natural,  as  being 
the  product  of  the  working  of  the  senses,  the  source 
and  fountain-head  of  all  illusion ;  she  is  moral, 
because  she  fits  in  with  the  habits  and  customs  of  the 
human  race,  who,  living  in  common  as  they  do, 
founded  their  ideas  of  good  and  evil,  their  human 
and  divine  laws,  upon  the  oldest,  most  sacred,  most 
irrational,  most  noble,  most  barbarous,  and  most 
erroneous  interpretations  of  natural  phenomena. 
Falsehood  is  the  principle  of  all  that  is  beautiful 
and  of  good  report  amongst  men.  Do  we  not  see 
winged  figures  and  mythical  pictures  adorning  their 
gardens,  their  palaces,  and  their  temples  ?  They 
lend  a  willing  ear  only  to  the  lies  of  the  poets. 
What  makes  you  wish  to  destroy  falsehood  and  to 
seek  truth  ?  Such  an  enterprise  can  only  be  in- 
spired by  decadent  curiosity  and  culpable  intel- 
lectual temerity.  It  is  an  attempt  against  the 
moral  nature  of  man  and  the  laws  of  society.  It 
is  a  sin  against  the  sentiments  as  well  as  the  virtues 
of  the  nations.  The  growth  of  so  great  a  calamity 
might  well  be  fatal ;  were  it  possible  to  precipitate 
matters  in  that  direction,  everything  would  go  to 
rack  and  ruin.  But  we  know  quite  well  that,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  progress  of  truth  is  very  slight 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  145 

and  very  slow,  and  encroaches  but  little  upon 
falsehood." 

"  You  are  evidently  not  here  referring  to  scien- 
tific truths,"  said  M.  Leterrier.  "  Their  progress 
is  rapid,  irresistible,  and  salutary." 

"  It  is,  unfortunately,  beyond  all  question," 
replied  M.  Bergeret,  "  that  the  scientific  verities 
which  penetrate  the  average  mind  sink  as  though 
in  a  swamp,  and  drown.  They  cause  no  upheaval 
and  are  powerless  to  destroy  error  and  prejudice. 
Truths  of  the  laboratory  which  hold  sovereign  sway 
over  you  and  me.  Monsieur,  have  no  authority  over 
the  minds  of  the  general  public.  I  will  mention  one 
example  only,  to  prove  this.  The  system  of  Coper- 
nicus and  Galileo  is  absolutely  irreconcilable  with 
Christian  philosophy,  and  yet  you  know  that,  both  in 
France  itself  and  the  world  over,  it  has  penetrated 
even  into  the  elementary  schools  without  the  very 
smallest  modification  being  made  in  the  theological 
conceptions  it  was  calculated  to  annihilate.  It  is 
certain  that  the  ideas  of  a  man  like  Laplace  make  the 
old  Judaeo-Christian  cosmogony  appear  as  puerile  as 
the  painting  upon  the  dial  of  a  Swiss  clock.  And  yet 
the  theories  of  Laplace  have  been  clearly  exposed  for 
nearly  a  century  without  in  the  least  depreciating 
the  value  of  the  little  Jewish  or  Chaldean  legends 
which  are  still  found  in  the  Christian  books  on 
religion.     Science  has  never  harmed  religion,  and 


146  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

the  absurdity  of  a  religious  practice  may  be  clearly 
demonstrated  without  lessening  the  number  o£  the 
persons  who  indulge  in  it.  Scientific  truths  are  not 
acceptable  to  the  public.  Nations  live  on  mythology, 
Monsieur;  from  legends  they  draw  all  the  ideas 
necessary  to  their  existence.  They  do  not  need 
many,  and  a  few  simple  fables  suffice  to  gild  millions 
of  lives.  In  short,  truth  has  no  hold  on  mankind, 
and  it  would  be  a  pity  if  she  had,  for  her  ways 
are  contrary  to  their  nature,  as  well  as  to  their 
interests." 

"  You  are  like  the  Greeks,  M.  Bergeret,"  said 
M.  Leterrier.  "  You  indulge  in  fine  sophisms,  and 
your  reasonings  are  tuned  to  the  flute  of  Pan. 
And  yet,  I  believe  with  Renan,  I  believe  with  Emile 
Zola,  that  truth  possesses  within  herself  a 
penetrating  force,  unknown  alike  to  error  and  to 
falsehood.  I  say  '  truth,'  and  you  understand  my 
meaning,  M.  Bergeret.  For  the  beautiful  words, 
truth  and  justice,  need  not  be  defined  in  order  to 
be  understood  in  their  true  sense.  They  bear 
within  them  a  shining  beauty  and  a  heavenly  light. 
I  firmly  believe  in  the  triumph  of  truth  ;  that  is 
what  upholds  me  in  the  time  of  trial  through  which 
I  am  now  passing." 

"  And  may  you  be  right.  Monsieur  le  Recteur," 
replied  M.  Bergeret.  "  But,  generally  speaking, 
I  think  that  the  knowledge  we  have  of  men  and 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  147 

facts  seldom  corresponds  to  the  men  themselves,  or 
to  the  facts  accomplished ;  that  the  means  by 
which  our  minds  can  attain  this  correspondence  are 
incomplete  and  insufficient,  and  that  if  time  reveals 
new  ways  of  doing  so,  it  destroys  more  than  it  pro- 
duces. Madame  Roland  in  prison  displayed,  to  my 
mind,  a  somewhat  childlike  trust  in  human  justice 
when  she  appealed  with  so  firm  a  faith  and  so 
confident  a  mind  to  impartial  posterity.  Posterity 
is  never  impartial  unless  it  is  indifferent,  and  what 
ceases  to  interest  it  it  straightway  forgets.  It  is 
no  judge,  as  Madame  Roland  fondly  believed.  It 
is  a  mob,  as  blind,  wonder-stricken,  miserable,  and 
violent  as  any  other.  It  has  its  likes,  and,  more 
especially,  its  dislikes.  It  is  prejudiced,  and  lives  in 
the  present,  knowing  nothing  of  the  past.  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  posterity." 

"  But,"  objected  M.  Leterrier,  "  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  the  hour  of  justice  and  reparation." 

"  Do  you  think,"  demanded  M.  Bergeret,  "  that 
the  hour  of  justice  and  reparation  ever  sounded  for 
Macbeth  ?  " 

"  Macbeth  ?  " 

"  Yes,  Macbeth,  son  of  Finleg,  King  of  Scotland. 
Two  great  powers,  legend  and  Shakespeare,  have 
made  of  him  a  criminal.  Now  I  am  convinced, 
Monsieur,  that  he  was  a  most  excellent  man.  He 
protected  the  people  and  the  clergy  against   the 


148  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

violence  of  the  nobles.  He  was  a  thrifty  king,  a  just 
judge,  and  the  friend  of  the  working  classes. 
History  bears  witness  to  it.  He  did  not  murder 
King  Duncan  ;  his  wife  was  not  a  wicked  woman. 
She  was  called  Gruoch,  and  had  three  vendettas 
against  the  family  of  Malcolm.  Her  first  husband 
had  been  burned  alive  in  his  castle.  I  have  here 
on  my  table  an  English  review  containing  materials 
which  prove  the  goodness  of  Macbeth  and  the 
innocence  of  his  wife.  Do  you  think  that  if  I 
were  to  publish  these  proofs  I  should  succeed  in 
altering  public  opinion  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  think  so,"  replied  M.  Leterrier. 

"  Neither  do  I,"  said  M.  Bergeret,  with  a  sigh. 

At  this  moment  a  great  clamour  arose  from  the 
market-place.  Some  citizens,  actuated  by  zeal  for 
the  Army,  and  in  conformity  w^ith  their  recently 
formed  custom,  were  on  their  way  to  break  the 
windows  of  Meyer  the  bootmaker. 

"  Mort  a  Zola!  Mort  a  Leterrier!  Mort  a 
Bergeret  !  Mort  aux  jiiifs  !  "  they  shouted  ;  and 
as  the  rector  gave  way  to  some  symptoms  of 
distress  and  indignation,  M.  Bergeret  pointed  out 
t^  him  that  he  must  try  and  comprehend  the  en- 
thusiasm of  mobs  such  as  this  one. 

"  These  people,"  he  said,  "  are  going  to  break 
the  windows  of  a  bootmaker,  and  will  succeed  in 
doing  so  without  any  trouble.    Do  you  think  they 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  149 

would  be  as  successful,  if,  for  instance,  they  had 
to  put  in  windows  or  bells  at  General  Cartier 
de  Chalmot's  ?  No,  indeed  !  Popular  enthusiasm 
is  never  constructive,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
essentially  destructive.  This  time  it  aims  at  our 
destruction  ;  you  must  not  attach  too  much  im- 
portance to  this  particular  instance,  but  rather 
seek  out  the  laws  which  govern  it." 

"  No  doubt,"  replied  M.  Leterrier,  who  was 
frankness  personified.  "  But,  all  the  same,  these 
events  fill  me  with  consternation.  Can  we  callously 
look  on  at  the  overthrow  of  justice  and  truth  by  a 
people  from  whom  Europe  first  learned  the  law, 
and  who  taught  the  meaning  of  justice  to  the  whole 
world  ?  " 


CHAPTER  VIII 

30NSIEUR  LE  PREMIER  PRESI- 
DENT CASSIGNOL  died  in  his 
ninety-second  year,  and,  in  accordance 
with  his  expressed  wish,  was  carried 
to  his  grave  upon  a  pauper's  hearse. 
This  clause  in  his  will  was  silently  condemned.  All 
present  were  inwardly  offended,  as  though  the  in- 
junction were  intended  as  a  slur  upon  that  object 
of  universal  respect,  money,  and  as  the  ostentatious 
relinquishment  of  a  privilege  appertaining  to  the 
bourgeois  class.  They  called  to  mind  that  M. 
Cassignol  had  always  lived  in  very  good  style, 
observing,  even  in  extreme  old  age,  a  punctilious 
nicety  with  regard  to  his  personal  habits,  and, 
although  he  had  been  unceasingly  employed  in 
charitable  works,  none  would  ever  have  dreamed 
of  saying,  in  the  words  of  a  Christian  orator, 
"  He  loved  the  poor  even  to  becoming  as  one  of 
them."  They  did  not  believe  the  thing  was  done 
out  of  religious  zeal,  and  looked  upon  it  as  a  para- 
doxical piece  of  pride,  the  elaborate  display  of 
humility  being  received  with  the  utmost  coldness. 

150 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  151 

They  regretted,  too,  that  the  deceased,  who  had 
been  an  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  had 
directed  that  no  miUtary  honours  should  be  paid 
him.  The  state  of  the  pubUc  mind,  inflamed  by 
the  nationaHst  papers,  was  such,  that  open  com- 
plaints at  the  absence  of  the  military  were  heard 
among  the  crowd.  General  Cartier  de  Chalmot, 
who  came  in  civilian  attire,  was  greeted  with 
profound  respect  by  a  deputation  of  lawyers. 
A  great  number  of  magistrates  and  clergy  thronged 
around  the  house  of  mourning,  and  when,  pre- 
ceded by  the  Cross,  and  to  the  sound  of  bells 
and  liturgical  chants,  the  hearse  moved  slowly 
towards  the  cathedral  accompanied  by  twelve 
white-coiffed  nuns,  and  followed  by  a  long  grey  and 
black  line  of  boys  and  girls  from  the  church  schools, 
which  stretched  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  the 
meaning  of  this  long  life  entirely  consecrated  to  the 
triumph  of  the  Catholic  Church  was  at  once  re- 
vealed. The  whole  town  was  there.  M.  Bergeret  was 
among  the  stragglers  following  the  procession, and  M. 
Mazure,  coming  up  to  him,  whispered  in  his  ear  : 

"  I  knew  that  old  Cassignol  had  been  a  fanatical 
zealot  all  his  life,  but  I  didn't  know  he  was  such  a 
prig.    He  called  himself  a  Liberal  !  " 

"  And  so  he  was,"  answered  M.  Bergeret.  "  He 
had  to  be,  because  his  ambition  was  to  govern.  Is 
it  not  through  liberty  that  we  progress  along  the 


152  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

road  to  domination  ?  My  dear  M.  Mazure,  I  am 
indeed  sorry  for  you  !  " 

"  Why  ?  "  asked  the  keeper  of  the  records. 

"  Because,  being  in  sympathy  with  the  mob,  you 
constantly  display  the  same  pathetic  faculty  for 
being  deceived,  and  zealously  march  along  in  the 
procession  of  triumphant  dupes." 

"  Oh,  if  you  mean  the  Affair,"  replied  M. 
Mazure,  "  I  may  as  well  warn  you  that  we  shall 
not  agree  at  all." 

"  Bergeret,  do  you  know  that  parson  ?  "  inquired 
Dr.  Fornerol,  glancing  at  a  fat  and  agile  priest  who 
was  sidling  in  among  the  crowd. 

"  Abbe  Guitrel,"  exclaimed  M.  Bergeret.  "  Who 
does  not  know  of  Guitrel  and  his  servant  ?  Ad- 
ventures recounted  in  days  of  yore  by  La  Fontaine 
and  Boccaccio  are  attributed  to  them.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  Abbe's  servant  is  of  the  age  stipulated 
by  the  canons  of  the  Church.  A  little  while  ago 
this  priest,  who  will  soon  be  a  bishop,  said  some- 
thing which  was  retailed  to  me,  and  which  I  in 
turn  repeat  to  you.  He  said,  '  If  the  eighteenth 
century  may  be  called  the  century  of  crime,  perhaps 
the  nineteenth  will  be  spoken  of  as  the  century  of 
atonement.'  What  do  you  think  of  that  ?  Suppose 
Guitrel  were  right." 

"  No,"  replied  the  keeper  of  the  records.  "  The 
number  of  the  emancipated  increases  from  day  to 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  153 

day,  and  liberty  of  conscience  has  been  set  up  once 
for  all.  The  empire  of  science  has  been  established. 
I  am  not,  however,  without  some  fears  of  a  renewed 
attack  by  the  clerical  party,  present  circumstances 
favouring  reaction.  It  really  worries  me,  for  I  am 
not,  like  you,  a  dilettante.  I  have  a  fierce  and 
anxious  love  for  the  Republic." 

Chatting  thus,  they  reached  the  open  space  in 
front  of  the  cathedral.  Over  the  heads  of  the 
people,  bald,  black,  or  hoary,  the  swell  of  the  organ 
and  the  odour  of  incense  were  wafted  through 
the  great  open  doors  from  the  warm  twilight 
within. 

"  I'm  not  going  inside,"  said  M.  Mazure. 

"  I  will  go  in  for  a  few  minutes,"  said  M.  Bergeret. 
"  I  have  a  taste  for  ritual." 

As  he  entered,  the  Dies  Iree  was  rolling  out  its 
spacious  phrases.  M.  Bergeret  was  behind  M. 
Laprat-Teulet.  On  the  gospel  side,  in  the  part  re- 
served for  women,  sat  Madame  de  Gromance,  lily- 
white  in  her  black  garments  ;  her  flower-like  eyes 
void  of  all  thought,  which  only  made  her  all  the 
more  desirable  in  M.  Bergeret's  mind.  The 
cantor's  voice  rang  out  in  the  great  nave,  singing 
a  verse  of  the  funeral  chant : 

"  Qui  latronem  cxaudisti 
Et  Mariam  absolvisti 
Mihi  quoque  spem  dedisti," 


154  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  You  hear,  Fornerol,"  said  M.  Bergeret,  "  '  Qui 

latronem   exaudisti Thou,  who  didst  pardon 

the  thief,  and  absolve  the  adulteress,  hast  given 
hope  to  me  also.'  No  doubt  the  recital  of  such 
words  to  a  large  assembly  of  people  is  not  without 
its  impressive  side,  and  the  praise  is  due  to  those 
untutored  and  gentle  visionaries  of  the  Abruzzi, 
those  humble  servants  of  the  poor,  those  amiable 
enthusiasts  who  renounced  riches  in  order  to  escape 
from  the  hatred  and  ill-will  that  they  engender.  They 
were  bad  economists,  these  companions  of  St.  Francis ; 
M.  Mehne  would  show  hi?  contempt  for  them,  if  by 
any  chance  he  ever  heard  them  spoken  about." 

"  Ah,"  said  the  doctor,  "  the  companions  of 
St.  Francis  were  able  to  look  ahead  and  to  see  of 
what  material  an  assembly  such  as  this  of  to-day 
would  be  composed." 

"  I  believe  the  Dies  Irce  was  written  during  the 
thirteenth  century  in  a  Franciscan  convent," 
replied  M.  Bergeret.  "  I  must  consult  my  friend. 
Commander  Aspertini,  on  the  subject." 

In  the  meanwhile  the  burial  service  was  drawing 
to  a  close. 

While  they  followed  the  hearse  that  bore  the 
magistrate's  remains  to  the  cemetery,  M.  Mazure, 
Dr.  Fornerol,  and  M.  Bergeret  continued  their 
conversation.  As  they  were  passing  the  house  of 
Queen  Marguerite,  M.  Mazure  remarked  : 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  155 

"  The  agreement  is  signed.  M.  de  Terremondre 
is  owner  of  the  ancient  dwelHng  of  Phihppe 
Tricouillard,  and  intends  to  house  his  collection 
there,  in  the  secret  hope  of  selling  it  at  a  tre- 
mendous price  some  day  to  the  town,  whose  bene- 
factor he  will  thus  become.  By  the  way,  Terre- 
mondre has  made  up  his  mind  ;  he  is  going  to  offer 
himself  as  progressive  republican  candidate  for 
Seuilly,  but  every  one  knows  in  what  direction  his 
progress  will  tend.  He  is  a  turncoat  from  the 
Royalists." 

"  Hasn't  he  got  the  Government  behind  him  ?  " 
asked  M.  Bergeret. 

"  He  is  supported  by  the  prefet,  and  opposed  by 
the  sous-'prcjet^''  replied  M.  Mazure.  "  The  sous- 
prcfet  of  Seuilly  is  led  by  the  President  of  the 
Council,  and  Worms-Clavelin,  the  prefet,  acts 
upon  the  instructions  of  the  Minister  of  the 
Interior." 

"  Do  you  see  that  shop  ?  "  asked  the  doctor. 

"  The  dyer's  and  cleaner's  shop  that  belongs  to 
the  widow  Leborgne  ?  "  said  M.  Mazure. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Dr.  Fornerol.  "  Her  husband 
died  six  weeks  ago  in  the  most  extraordinary  way. 
He  literally  died  of  fright  and  nervous  shock  at 
sight  of  a  dog  which  he  believed  to  be  mad,  and 
which  was  as  healthy  as  I  am  myself." 

At  the  thought  of  death  M.  Mazure,  who  was 


156  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

a  freethinker,  felt  a  sudden  longing  come  over  him 
to  possess  an  immortal  soul. 

"  I  do  not  believe  a  word  of  what  is  taught  by  the 
different  churches  that  share  in  the  spiritual  guidance 
of  the  people,"  he  said.  "  I  know,  none  better, 
how  dogma  is  formed,  transformed,  and  elaborated. 
But  why  should  we  not  possess  a  thinking  principle, 
and  why  should  not  that  principle  survive  the 
association  of  organic  elements  that  we  call  life  ?  " 

"  I  should  like,"  repHed  M.  Bergeret,  "  to  ask 
you  what  you  mean  by  a  thinking  principle,  but  no 
doubt  you  would  find  it  difficult  to  define." 

"  Not  at  all,"  returned  M.  Mazure.  "  I  give  the 
name  to  the  cause  of  thought,  or,  if  you  prefer  it, 
to  thought  itself.  Why  should  not  thought  be 
immortal  ?  " 

"  Yes,  why  not  ?  "  returned  M.  Bergeret. 

"  The  supposition  is  by  no  means  absurd,"  said 
M.  Mazure,  warming  to  his  subject. 

"  And  why,"  returned  M.  Bergeret,  "  should 
not  a  certain  house  in  the  Tintelleries,  bearing  the 
number  38,  be  inhabited  by  a  M.  Dupont  ?  Such 
a  supposition  is  by  no  means  absurd.  The  name 
of  Dupont  is  common  enough  in  France,  and  the 
house  of  which  I  am  speaking  is  divided  into  three 
parts." 

"  Now,  of  course,  you're  joking ! "  said  M. 
Mazure. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  157 

"  In  a  way  I'm  a  spiritualist,"  said  Dr.  Fornerol. 
"  Spiritualism  is  a  therapeutic  agent  which  must 
be  reckoned  with  in  the  present  state  of  medical 
science.  All  my  patients  believe  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  dislike  hearing  it  ridiculed. 
The  good  people  of  the  Tintelleries  quarter  and 
elsewhere  insist  on  being  immortal,  and  it  would 
grieve  and  wound  them  if  anyone  were  to  suggest 
anything  to  the  contrary.  Madame  Pechin,  to 
wit,  coming  out  of  the  greengrocer's  over  there 
with  a  basketful  of  tomatoes — if  you  were  to  go 
to  her  and  say :  '  Madame  Pechin,  you  will  taste 
the  joys  of  heaven  for  hundreds  of  millions  of 
centuries,  but  you  are  not  immortal.  You  will  live 
longer  than  the  stars,  you  will  still  exist  when  the 
nebulae  have  turned  into  suns,  and  after  the  light 
of  those  suns  has  died  ;  you  will  live  on  in  perfect 
happiness  and  glory  during  inconceivable  ages,  but 
you  are  not  immortal,  Madame  Pechin  !  '  If  you 
were  to  say  such  things  to  her,  she  would  not  look 
upon  them  as  good  tidings,  and  if,  by  chance,  your 
words  were  backed  up  by  proofs  infallible  enough 
to  convince  her,  she  would  be  miserable ;  the 
poor  old  thing  would  be  in  despair,  and  would 
mingle  tears  with  her  tomatoes.  Madame  Pechin 
insists  on  being  immortal ;  all  my  patients  have  a 
similar  craving.  You,  M.  Mazure,  and  you,  too, 
M.  Bergeret,  have  the  same  desire.     Now  I  will 


158  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

confess  to  you  that  instability  is  the  essential 
characteristic  of  the  combined  elements  that  go  to 
form  life.  Shall  I  give  you  a  scientific  definition 
of  life  ?    It's  a  damned  callous  mystery  !  " 

"  Confucius,"  said  M.  Bergeret,  "  was  a  very 
sensible  man.  One  day  his  disciple,  Ki-Lou,  asked 
him  how  to  serve  the  demons  and  the  spirits,  to 
which  the  master  replied,  '  Man  is  not  yet  in  a  fit 
state  to  serve  humanity,  so  how  can  he  serve  the 
demons  and  the  spirits  ?  '  '  Permit  me,'  went  on 
the  disciple,  '  to  ask  you  what  is  death.'  And  Con- 
fucius replied,  '  We  do  not  know  the  meaning  of 
life,  how,  then,  can  we  understand  death  ?  '  " 

The  procession  skirted  the  Rue  Nationale,  and 
passed  in  front  of  the  college.  Dr.  Fornerol,  being 
thereby  reminded  of  his  youthful  days,  began : 

"  That  is  where  I  studied.  It  is  a  long  time  ago 
now.  I  am  much  older  than  either  of  you.  In  a 
week  I  shall  be  fifty-six  !  " 

"  And  so  Madame  Pechin  really  insists  on  being 
immortal  ?  "  asked  M.  Bergeret. 

''  She  is  convinced  that  she  is  immortal,"  answered 
the  doctor.  "  If  you  told  her  that  she  was  not,  she 
would  take  a  dislike  to  you,  and  disbelieve  you  all 
the  same." 

"  And  the  idea  of  having  to  go  on  for  ever  amid 
the  universal  passing  of  things  does  not  astonish  her  ? 
She  does  not  tire  of  nourishing  such  exaggerated 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  159 

hopes  ?  Perhaps  she  has  not  given  much  thought 
to  the  nature  of  man  and  the  conditions  of 
Hfe  ? " 

"  What  does  that  matter  ?  "  repHed  the  doctor. 
"  I  cannot  understand  your  surprise,  my  dear 
M.  Bergeret.  This  good  lady  is  a  rehgious  woman; 
religion,  indeed,  is  her  only  possession.  Having 
been  born  in  a  Catholic  country,  she  is  a  Catholic, 
and  she  believes  what  she  has  been  taught.  It's 
only  nature  !  " 

"  Doctor,  you  are  talking  like  Zaire,"  said  M. 

Bergeret "  Had  I  lived  on  the  banks  of  the 

Ganges.  Besides,  the  belief  in  immortality  is  com- 
mon in  Europe,  America,  and  a  part  of  Asia  ;  it 
spreads  in  Africa  with  the  wearing  of  clothes." 

"  So  much  the  better,"  replied  the  doctor,  "  for 
it  is  necessary  to  civilization.  Without  it  the 
unfortunate  would  never  resign  themselves  to 
their  fate." 

"  Yet,"  retorted  M.  Bergeret,  "  the  Chinese 
coolies  work  for  paltry  wages.  They  are  patient 
and  resigned,  and  they  are  not  spiritualists." 

"  That  is  because  they  arc  yellow,"  replied  the 
doctor.  "The  white  races  have  far  less  resignation. 
They  have  conceived  an  ideal  of  justice,  and 
formed  great  hopes.  General  Cartier  de  Chalmot 
is  quite  right  in  saying  that  belief  in  a  future  life 
is  necessary  to  an  army.    It  is  also  very  useful  with 


i6o  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

regard  to  social  intercourse ;  people  would  be 
worse  than  they  are  but  for  the  fear  of  hell." 

"  Doctor,"  demanded  M.  Bergeret,  "  do  you 
believe  you  will  rise  again  ?  " 

"  It's  different  for  me,"  replied  the  doctor.  "  I 
do  not  find  it  necessary  to  believe  in  God  in  order 
to  be  an  honest  man.  As  a  scientist  I  know  nothing  ; 
as  a  citizen  I  believe  everything.  I  am  a  Catholic 
by  policy,  and  consider  that  religious  belief  is  essen- 
tially an  improving  element  that  helps  to  humanize 
the  masses." 

"  That  is  a  very  widespread  opinion,"  said  M. 
Bergeret,  "  and  its  general  acceptance  renders  it 
suspect  in  my  eyes.  Popular  opinions  hold  good 
as  a  matter  of  course,  without  analysis,  and  if  they 
were  inquired  into,  generally  speaking  they  would 
not  pass  muster.  They  are  like  the  theatre-lover 
who  for  thirty  years  was  able  to  attend  the  plays  at 
the  Comedie-Fran^aise  by  simply  muttering  '  feu 
Scribe  '  as  he  went  in,  to  the  man  at  the  ticket- 
office.  If  investigated,  his  right  of  entry  would 
never  have  been  allowed  to  pass,  but  it  never  was 
investigated.  How  can  one  really  believe  religion 
to  have  a  moralizing  effect  when  one  reads  the 
history  of  the  Christian  nations,  and  realizes  it  to 
be  a  succession  of  wars,  massacres  and  tortures. 
You  cannot  expect  people  to  be  more  pious  than 
cloistered  monks,  and  yet  monks  of  every  order, 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  i6i 

black,  white,  brown,  and  pied,  have  been  guilty 
of  the  most  abominable  crimes.  The  agents  of 
the  Inquisition  and  the  priests  of  the  League  were 
pious,  yet  they  were  cruel.  I  do  not  mention  the 
popes  who  drowned  the  world  in  blood,  for  it  is 
by  no  means  certain  that  they  really  believed  in  a 
future  life.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  men 
are  evil  animals,  and  remain  evil,  even  when  they 
expect  to  go  from  this  world  into  another,  which  is 
somewhat  unreasonable,  when  one  comes  to  think 
of  it.  All  the  same,  I  do  not  want  you  to  imagine, 
doctor,  that  I  deny  Madame  Pechin  the  right  to 
believe  herself  immortal.  I  will  even  go  so  far  as  to 
say  that  she  will  not  be  disappointed  when  she 
departs  this  life,  for  a  lasting  illusion  has  some  of  the 
attributes  of  truth,  and  a  person  who  is  never 
disabused  is  never  deceived." 

By  this  time  the  head  of  the  cortege  had  entered 
the  cemetery,  and  the  three  gossips  slackened  their 
pace. 

"  If  you  were  in  my  position,  M.  Bergeret,"  said 
the  doctor,  "  and  visited  each  morning  a  dozen  or 
so  of  sick  folk,  you  would  realize,  as  I  do,  the  power 
of  the  clergy.  Come  now,  do  you  never  find  your- 
self desiring,  if  not  believing  in,  immortality  ?  " 

"  Doctor,"  replied  M.  Bergeret,  "  my  thoughts 
on  this  subject  are  the  same  as  those  of  Madame 
Dupont-Delagneau.     Madame    Dupont-Delagneau 


1 62  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

was  very  old  when  my  father  was  very  young.  She 
was  fond  of  him,  and  used  to  enjoy  a  chat  with  him ; 
she  was  a  link  with  the  eighteenth  century.  I  have 
heard  him  quote  her  again  and  again,  and  this, 
amongst  others,  is  an  anecdote  I  have  heard  him 
relate.  Once,  when  she  was  ill  in  the  country,  her 
parish  priest  went  to  visit  her,  and  began  to  talk  of 
a  future  life.  With  a  little  disdainful  grimace,  she 
retorted  that  she  had  her  misgivings  about  the  next 
world.  '  You  tell  me,'  she  said,  '  that  the  Creator 
of  this  world  made  the  next  too.  All  I  can  say  is 
that  I  am  already  too  well  acquainted  with  His 
handiwork  !  '  Thus,  doctor,  I  am  at  least  as  mis- 
trustful of  the  next  world  as  was  Madame  Dupont- 
Delagneau." 

"  But,"  asked  the  doctor,  "  have  you  never 
dreamed  of  immortality  achieved  by  science,  or  life 
on  another  star  ?  " 

"  I  always  come  back  to  the  saying  of  Madame 
Dupont-Delagneau,"  replied  M.  Bergeret.  "  I 
should  be  too  much  afraid  that  the  systems  of 
Altair  or  Aldebaran  would  resemble  our  solar 
system,  and  that  it  would  not  be  worth  while 
changing.  And  as  for  being  born  again  on  this 
terrestrial  globe — I  think  not,  doctor,  thank  you  !  " 

"  But  come  now,  really  !  "  persisted  the  doctor. 
"  Would  you  not,  like  Madame  Pechin,  like  to  be 
immortal,  somehow  or  other  ?  " 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  163 

"  All  things  considered,"  replied  M.  Bergeret, 
"  I  am  content  with  being  eternal,  and,  in  my 
essence,  I  am  that.  As  for  the  consciousness  I 
enjoy,  that  is  a  mere  accident,  doctor,  a  momentary 
phenomenon,  like  a  bubble  formed  on  the  surface 
of  the  waters." 

"Agreed !  But  it  is  better  not  to  say  so,"  repHed 
the  doctor. 

"  Why  ?  "  asked  M.  Bergeret. 

"  Because  such  notions  are  not  suited  to  the 
masses,  with  whom  you  must  agree  outwardly, 
though  inwardly  you  hold  other  views.  It  is 
community  of  belief  that  makes  strong  nations." 

"  The  truth  is,"  rephed  M.  Bergeret,  "  that  men 
of  a  common  faith  have  no  more  urgent  desire 
than  to  exterminate  those  who  think  differently, 
particularly  if  the  difference  is  very  slight." 

"  We  are  going  to  hear  three  speeches,"  said  M. 
Mazure. 

He  was  mistaken.  Five  speeches  were  made  and 
no  one  heard  a  word.  Cries  of  ^^  Vive  Varmce  !'''' 
broke  out  as  General  Cartier  de  Chalmot  went  by, 
while  Messieurs  Leterrier  and  Bergeret  were  pursued 
by  the  hooting  of  the  youthful  Nationalists  of  the 
place. 


CHAPTER  IX 

N  a  wet  evening  in  May,  the  Brece 
ladies  were  sitting  together  in  the 
big  drawing-room,  knitting  woollen 
bodices  for  the  poor  children  of  the 
village.  Old  Madame  de  Courtrai 
was  standing  with  her  back  to  the  fire,  holding  up 
her  skirts  and  warming  her  legs.  The  Duke,  General 
Cartier  de  Chalmot,  and  M.  Lerond  were  chatting, 
prior  to  a  game  of  whist.  The  Duke  opened  the 
previous  day's  paper  that  was  lying  upon  the  table. 

"  Hostilities  between  the  Americans  and  the 
Spanish  have  not  yet  started  in  earnest,"  he  said. 
"  What  do  you  anticipate  will  be  the  outcome 
of  it  all.  General  ?  I  should  be  very  glad  to  have 
the  opinion  of  so  eminent  a  military  authority  as 
yourself." 

"  It  would  certainly  be  very  instructive  if  you 

would  tell  us  what  you  think  about  the  forces  that 

are  about  to  try  their  strength  in  the  Antilles  and 

in  the  China  seas.  General,"  put  in  M.  Lerond. 

General   Cartier   de    Chalmot   passed   his    hand 

164 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  165 

over  his  forehead,  opened  his  mouth  some  time 
before  he  spoke,  and  then  said  in  an  authoritative 
manner : 

"  The  Americans  have  committed  a  very  im- 
prudent act  in  declaring  war  on  Spain,  and  it  may- 
well  cost  them  dear.  Having  no  army  and  no  navy, 
it  would  be  a  difficult  matter  for  them  to  keep  up 
a  struggle  against  an  efficient  army  and  a  well- 
trained  navy.  They  have  their  stokers  and  their 
enginemen,  but  stokers  and  enginemen  do  not  make 
a  battle  fleet." 

"  Do  you  think  the  Spaniards  will  win,  General  ?  " 
asked  M.  Lerond. 

"  Generally  speaking,  the  success  of  a  campaign 
depends  upon  circumstances  impossible toprophesy," 
replied  the  General.  "  But  it  may  at  once  be  stated 
that  the  Americans  are  not  ready  for  war,  and  war 
necessitates  long  and  careful  preparation." 

"  Come,  General,"  cried  Madame  de  Courtrai, 
"  tell  us  that  these  American  wretches  will  be 
beaten  !  " 

*'  Their  success  is  doubtful,"  replied  the  General. 
"  I  might  even  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  it  would  be 
paradoxical,  and  an  insolent  contradiction  of  every 
system  employed  by  those  nations  which  are  essen- 
tially military  nations.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
victory  of  the  United  States  would  constitute  a 
condemnation  of  the  principles  adopted  throughout 


1 66  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Europe  hy  the  most  competent  soldiers,  and  such  a 
result  is  neither  likely  nor  desirable." 

"  Good  !  "  cried  Madame  de  Courtrai,  smacking 
her  withered  sides  with  her  bony  hands,  and  shaking 
her  head,  with  its  rough,  grey  locks  that  looked  like 
a  fur  cap.  "  Good  !  our  friends  the  Spaniards  will 
be  victorious !    Five  le  roi !  " 

"  General,"  said  M.  Lerond,  "  I  am  most 
interested  in  what  you  say.  The  success  of  our 
friends  would  be  well  received  in  France,  and  who 
knows  if  they  might  not  be  the  means  of  stirring  up 
a  Royalist  and  clerical  movement  in  this  country  !  " 

"  Pardon  me,"  said  the  General.  "  I  make  no 
prophecy  regarding  the  future.  As  I  have  said 
before,  the  success  of  a  campaign  depends  upon 
circumstances  impossible  to  foresee.  All  I  can  do  is 
to  take  into  consideration  the  quality  of  the  con- 
flicting elements,  and  from  this  point  of  view  the 
advantage  is  certainly  with  Spain,  although  her  fleet 
does  not  include  a  sufficiency  of  naval  units." 

"  Certain  symptoms,"  said  the  Duke,  "  would 
point  to  the  fact  that  the  Americans  have  already 
begun  to  repent  of  their  temerity.  I  have  heard  it 
positively  stated  that  they  are  panic-stricken. 
They  live  in  daily  dread  of  seeing  the  Spanish 
ironclads  appear  on  their  coasts.  The  inhabitants 
of  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia  are  fleeing 
inland  en  masse  ;  in  fact,  a  general  panic  exists." 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  167 

"  Vive  le  rot  I "  repeated  Madame  de  Courtrai, 
with  fierce  delight. 

"  What  about  little  Honorine  ?  "  asked  M. 
Lerond.  "  Is  she  still  favoured  with  the  visitations 
of  Notre-Dame-des-Belles-Feuilles  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  dowager  duchess,  with  some 
embarrassment. 

"  It  would  be  a  good  idea,"  ventured  the 
ex-deputy,  "  to  make  an  official  report  of  the  child's 
statements  of  what  she  sees  and  hears  when  in  her 
trances." 

No  reply  was  forthcoming  to  this  remark,  the 
reason  being  that,  having  undertaken  to  note  down 
the  words  attributed  by  Honorine  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  Madame  de  Brece  very  soon  stopped  doing 
so :  the  child's  expressions  were  not  nice.  Besides, 
M.  le  Cure  Travies,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  shooting 
rabbits  every  evening  in  the  woods  of  Lenonville, 
had  too  often  surprised  Isidore  and  Honorine  lying 
among  the  dead  leaves  to  be  any  longer  in  doubt  as 
to  why  they  were  there.  M.  Travies  was  something 
of  a  poacher,  but  both  his  morals  and  his  doctrine 
were  sound.  He  gathered  from  repeated  observa- 
tions that  it  was  hardly  likely  the  Blessed  Virgin 
would  appear  to  Honorine. 

He  had  spoken  on  the  matter  to  the  ladies  of  the 
castle,  who  were,  if  not  convinced,  at  least  some- 
what perplexed.     So  when  M.  Lerond  asked  them 


1 68  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

for  details  of  the  latest  ecstasies,  they  changed  the 
subject. 

"  If  you  care  to  hear  news  from  Lourdes,"  said 
the  dowager  duchess,  "  we  have  some." 

"  My  nephew  writes  me  that  many  miracles  take 
place  in  the  grotto,"  said  M.  de  Brece. 

"  I  have  heard  the  same  thing  from  one  of  my 
officers,"  replied  the  General.  "  He  is  a  promising 
young  fellow,  and  has  come  back  amazed  at  the 
wonderful  things  he  saw  there." 

"  You  know  that  the  doctors  in  attendance  at 
the  piscina  report  the  most  miraculous  cures  ?  " 
said  the  Duke. 

"  We  do  not  need  the  opinion  of  learned  men 
to  make  us  believe  in  miracles,"  said  Madame 
de  Brece  with  a  limpid  smile.  "  I  have  far  more 
confidence  in  the  Blessed  Virgin  than  in  any 
doctors." 

They  then  began  to  talk  of  the  Affair,  amazed, 
so  they  said,  that  the  "  syndicate  of  treachery  " 
should  continue  its  audacious  manifestations  un- 
punished.   With  much  emphasis  the  Duke  expressed 
himself  as  follows : 

"  When  two  courts  martial  have  given  their  ver- 
dict, the  smallest  doubt  can  no  longer  exist." 

"  Have  you  heard,"  said  Madame  Jean,  "  that 
Mademoiselle  Deniseau,  the  local  prophetess,  has 
learned  from  the  mouth  of  St.  Radegonde  herself 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  169 

that  Zola  is  going  to  become  a  naturalized  Italian, 
and  will  not  return  to  France  ?  " 

This  prophecy  was  received  with  much  favour. 

A  servant  entered,  bringing  the  letters. 

"  Perhaps  there  will  be  some  news  of  the  war," 
said  the  Duke,  opening  a  paper. 

And  in  dead  silence  he  read  the  following : 

"  Commodore  Dewey  has  destroyed  the  Spanish 
fleet  in  the  port  of  Manilla.  The  Americans  have 
not  lost  a  man." 

This  telegram  caused  much  depression  in  the 
drawing-room.  The  only  person  who  continued  to 
look  confident  was  Madame  de  Courtrai,  who  cried  : 

"  It's  not  true  !  " 

"  The  telegram,"  said  M.  Lerond,  "  is  an 
American  one." 

"  Yes,"  said  M.  de  Brece,  "  we  must  beware  of 
false  news." 

All  endorsed  this  prudent  view  of  things,  and  yet 
were  aghast  at  the  sudden  vision  of  a  fleet,  blessed 
by  the  Pope,  bearing  the  flag  of  His  Catholic 
Majesty,  and  carrying  on  the  prow  of  her  vessels 
the  names  of  the  Virgin  and  the  saints,  disabled, 
shattered,  and  sunk  by  the  guns  of  bacon  mer- 
chants, sewing-machine  manufacturers,  and  here- 
tics, by  a  nation  without  kings,  without  princes, 
without  a  history,  without  national  traditions,  and 
without  an  army. 


/ 


CHAPTER  X 

BERGERET'S  affairs  were  worrying 
him;  he  was  beginning  to  fear  he 
might  be  asked  to  resign  his  position 
at  the  Faculte,  when,  to  his  surprise, 
.   he  received  the  intimation  that  he 
had  been  appointed  honorary  professor  there. 

The  news  came  to  him  one  day,  after  his  removal 
to  his  new  rooms  in  the  Place  Saint-Exupere,  at  the 
very  moment  when  he  least  expected  it.  His  joy 
at  the  event  was  greater  than  his  progress  in  ataraxy 
should  have  allowed.  Vague  and  flattering  hopes 
arose  within  him,  and  when  M.  Goubin,  who  had 
become  his  favourite  pupil  since  the  betrayal  of 
M.  Roux,  came  that  same  evening  to  take  him  for 
their  usual  stroll  to  the  Cafe  de  la  Comedie,  he 
found  him  beaming  all  over  with  smiles. 

The  night  was  bright  with  stars,  and  as  he  went 
along  the  uneven  pavements,  M.  Bergeret  studied 
the  sky.  He  was  interested  in  the  lighter  side  of 
astronomy,  and  pointed  out  to  M.  Goubin  a 
beautiful  red  star  over  against  Gemini. 

"  That  is  Mars,"  he  said.     "  I  wish  there  were 

170 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  171 

such    things    as    glasses    strong    enough    to  see    its 
inhabitants  and  their  industries." 

"But,  dear  Master,"  said  M.  Goubin,  "were  you 
not  telHng  me  some  short  time  ago  that  the  planet 
Mars  was  not  inhabited,  that  none  of  the  celestial 
bodies  were  inhabited,  and  that  life,  such  as  w^e 
conceive  it,  was  a  disease  confined  to  our  planet 
alone,  a  kind  of  decay  spread  over  the  surface  of 
our  rotting  world  ?  " 

"  Did  I  say  that  ?  "  asked  M.  Bergeret. 

"  As  far  as  I  can  remember  that  is  what  you  said, 
dear  Master,"  replied  M.  Goubin. 

And  his  memory  had  not  played  him  false.  After 
the  betrayal  of  M.  Roux,  M.  Bergeret  had  asserted 
that  organic  life  was  but  decay  eating  into  the 
surface  of  our  diseased  world.  He  had  also  added 
that  he  hoped  for  the  greater  glory  of  the  heavens 
that  life  in  the  distant  worlds  produced  itself 
normally,  by  means  of  the  geometrical  forms  of 
crystalHzation.  "  Otherwise,"  he  had  added,  "  I 
could  derive  no  pleasure  from  the  contemplation 
of  the  star-spangled  sky."  Now,  however,  he  was 
of  a  different  opinion. 

"  You  surprise  me,"  he  said  to  M.  Goubin. 
"  There  are  several  reasons  for  concluding  that  all 
those  stars  now  sparkling  overhead  contain  life  and 
thought.  Even  on  this  earth  of  ours,  life  occasion- 
ally has  its  pleasant  side,  and  thought  is  divine.     I 

M 


172  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

should  much  like  to  know  something  about  yon 
sister  star  floating  in  thin  ether  in  the  face  of  the 
sun.  She  is  our  neighbour,  and  only  separated 
from  us  by  fourteen  millions  of  leagues,  which, 
astronomically  speaking,  is  a  very  small  distance 
indeed.  I  should  like  to  know  if  the  living  beings 
upon  the  planet  Mars  are  more  beautiful  than  we 
humans  are,  and  whether  their  intellect  is  vaster 
than  our  own." 

"  That  is  a  thing  we  shall  never  know,"  replied 
M.  Goubin,  wiping  his  glasses. 

"  At  any  rate,"  went  on  M.  Bergeret,  "  astrono- 
mers have  studied  the  shape  of  that  red  planet 
by  means  of  powerful  telescopes,  and  they  all 
agree  in  saying  that  they  are  able  to  distinguish 
innumerable  canals  upon  its  surface.  Now,  the 
hypotheses  taken  as  a  whole,  hypotheses  that  are 
closely  interdependent  and  form  a  great  cosmic 
system,  lead  us  to  believe  that  this  near  neighbour 
of  ours  is  older  than  the  earth,  from  which  we  may 
deduce  that  her  inhabitants,  with  a  longer  experi- 
ence behind  them,  are  wiser  than  ourselves.  The 
canals  of  which  I  was  speaking  give  to  the  huge 
tracts  of  land  they  traverse  the  appearance  of 
Lombardy.  To  be  quite  correct,  we  can  see 
neither  the  water  nor  the  banks,  but  only  the 
vegetation  that  grows  along  them,  and  which,  to 
the  observer,  appears  as  a  thin  scattered  line,  pale 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  173 

or  dark  according  to  the  season  of  the  year.  It  is 
especially  to  be  remarked  at  the  equator  of  the 
planet.  We  give  the  canals  the  earthly  names  of 
Ganges,  Euripus,  Phison,  Nile,  and  Orcus.  They 
appear  to  be  irrigating  canals,  like  those  at  which, 
it  is  said,  Leonardo  da  Vinci  worked  with  the  skill  of 
an  excellent  engineer.  Their  undeviating  course,  and 
the  circular  basins  in  which  they  terminate,  are  suffi- 
cient proof  that  they  are  both  artificial  and  the 
result  of  mathematical  calculation.  Nature  is  mathe- 
matical, it  is  true,  but  not  in  the  same  manner. 

"  The  canal  which  we  call  Orcus  is  very  wonderful. 
Its  course  lies  through  a  number  of  little  round  lakes, 
set  at  equal  distances  from  one  another,  which  give 
it  the  appearance  of  a  rosary.  We  cannot  doubt 
but  that  the  canals  of  Mars  have  been  constructed 
by  intelligent  beings." 

Thus  did  M.  Bergeret  people  the  universe  with 
seductive  forms  and  sublime  thoughts.  He  filled 
the  empty  spaces  of  the  boundless  heavens  because 
he  had  been  made  an  honorary  professor.  He  was 
very  wise,  but  also  very  human. 

When  he  returned  home,  he  found  the  following 
letter  awaiting  him  : 

"  Milan. 

"  Dear  Friend, 

"  You    have    relied    too    much    upon    my 
knowledge.     I  am  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  satisfy 


174  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

the  curiosity  which  you  tell  me  stirred  you  during 
the  funeral  of  M.  Cassignol. 

"  The  only  interest  I  have  taken  in  the  old 
Church  liturgies  lies  in  their  connection  in  one  way 
and  another  with  the  writings  of  Dante,  and  I  can 
tell  you  nothing  upon  the  subject  that  you  do  not 
already  know. 

"  The  oldest  mention  of  the  chant  is  made 
about  1 40 1  by  Bartolommeo  Pisano.  Maroni  at- 
tributes the  Dies  Irce  to  Frangipani  Malabranca 
Orsini,  who  was  cardinal  in  1278.  Wadding, 
the  biographer  of  the  Franciscan  Order  Seraphique, 
ascribes  it  to  Fra  Tomaso  da  Celano,  qui  -floruit 
suh  anno  1250.  Such  attributions  are  altogether 
destitute  of  proof,  but  it  is  at  any  rate  probable  that 
it  was  composed  in  Italy  during  the  twelfth  century. 

"  In  the  seventeenth  century  the  defective  text 
of  the  Roman  Missal  was  further  impaired.  A 
marble  tablet  preserved  in  the  church  of  San 
Francesco  at  Mantua  offers  an  older  and  more 
perfect  version  of  the  poem.  If  you  would  like 
me  to  do  so,  I  will  have  the  Marmor  Mantuanum 
copied  for  you.  I  shall  be  delighted  if  you  will 
make  use  of  me  in  this  as  in  other  ways  ;  nothing 
would  give  me  more  pleasure  than  to  be  able  to 
serve  you. 

"  In  return,  please  be  good  enough  to  copy  for 
me  a  letter,  written  by  Mabillon  and  preserved 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  175 

in  the  town  library  ;  it  is  one  of  the  Johette  bequest, 
collection  B,  No.  3715®,  folio  70.  The  passage  that 
particularly  interests  me  refers  to  the  Anecdota  of 
Muratori.  Coming  from  you  I  shall  value  it  still 
more. 

"  It  is  my  opinion,  by  the  way,  that  Muratori 
did  not  believe  in  God.  It  has  always  been  my 
wish  to  write  a  book  on  the  atheist-theologians, 
the  number  of  whom,  is  considerable.  Forgive 
me  for  the  trouble  to  which  I  am  putting  you  by 
asking  you  to  visit  the  public  library  ;  I  trust  that 
you  may  be  rewarded  by  a  meeting  with  the  golden- 
haired  fairy  who  guards  the  entrance,  and  whose 
dainty  ears  listen  to  your  flattering  remarks  the 
while  she  swings  in  her  fingers  the  huge  keys  that 
lock  away  the  ancient  treasures  of  your  town. 
Speaking  of  this  fairy  reminds  me  that  my  days  of 
love  are  over,  and  that  it  is  high  time  for  me  to 
cultivate  some  favourite  vice.  Life  would  be  sad 
indeed  if  the  rosy  swarm  of  errant  thoughts  did  not 
come  sometimes  to  console  the  old  age  of  the  most 
respectable  folk.  I  am  safe  in  sharing  such  sound 
wisdom  with  a  mind  as  rare  and  capable  of  compre- 
hension as  your  own. 

"  When  you  come  to  Florence  I  will  introduce 
you  to  a  nymph  who  guards  the  house  of  Dante, 
and  who  is  well  worth  your  fairy.  You  will  admire 
her  chestnut  hair,  her  black  eyes,  her  full  bust,  and 


1/6  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

her  nose  you  will  consider  a  miracle  of  loveliness. 
It  is  of  medium  size,  straight  and  fine,  with  delicate 
nostrils.  I  mention  this  particularly  because  you 
know  that  nature  is  not  good  at  noses,  and  too 
often  spoils  a  pretty  face  by  her  clumsiness  in  that 
direction. 

"  Mabillon's  letter,  which  I  have  asked  you  to 
copy  for  me,  commences  thus :  '  Ni  les  fatigues  de 
Page,  monsieur  .  .  .'  Forgive  me  for  worrying  you, 
and  believe  me  to  be  your  sincere  friend, 

"  Carlo  Aspertini. 

"  P.S. — Why  will  the  French  persist  in  upholding 
an  error  of  justice  which  is  now  beyond  all  question, 
and  which  they  could  quite  easily  set  right  without 
harming  anyone  ?  I  can  find  no  solution  to  their 
conduct  in  this  matter.  All  my  countrymen,  all 
Europe,  and  the  whole  world  share  my  amazement. 
I  should  very  much  like  to  have  your  opinion 
regarding  this  extraordinary  affair. 

"  C.  A." 


CHAPTER  XI 

N  the  clear  light  of  early  morning  the 
quarters  were  full  of  the  passing  to 
and  fro  of  the  men  on  duty,  sweeping 
the  cobbles,  or  grooming  down  the 
horses.  At  the  far  end  of  the  yard, 
clothed  in  his  canvas  trousers  and  dirty  blouse, 
stood  Private  Bonmont,  with  his  comrades,  Privates 
Cocot  and  Briqueballe,  peeling  potatoes  in  front 
of  a  cauldron  full  of  water.  Now  and  then  a  squad, 
under  the  conduct  of  a  non-commissioned  officer, 
rushed  down  the  stairs  like  a  torrent,  scattering  on 
its  way  the  invincible  gaiety  of  the  young. 

The  most  characteristic  feature  of  these  men 
who  had  been  taught  to  march  was  their  step, 
a  heavy,  laboured  step,  crushing  and  sonorous. 
Important-looking  pay-sergeants  continually  passed 
by  with  account-books  of  all  sizes  under  their  arms. 
Privates  Bonmont,  Cocot  and  Briqueballe  were 
peeling  potatoes  and  throwing  them  into  the 
cauldron,  and  as  they  did  so  they  gave  vent  to  the 
most  harmless  of  thoughts  in  words  that  were  few 

177 


178  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

but  of  an  exceeding  coarseness.     Private  Bonmont 
was  thinking  deeply. 

In  front  of  him,  beyond  the  barrack  gates  that 
closed  in  the  courtyard  of  the  huge  building, 
stretched  a  circle  of  hills  with  villas  nestling  in  the 
purple  branches  of  the  trees,  and  sparkling  in  the 
morning  sun.  There  resided  the  actresses  and  light 
women  brought  to  the  town  by  the  presence  of  Private 
Bonmont.  A  whole  swarm  of  women,  bookmakers, 
journalists  belonging  to  sporting  and  military  papers, 
jockeys,  procurers,  male  and  female,  and  swindlers  of 
all  descriptions,  had  settled  down  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  barracks  where  the  rich  conscript  was  serving 
his  time.  As  he  peeled  the  potatoes,  he  might  have 
congratulated  himself  on  being  able  to  bring 
together  so  Parisian  a  society  at  so  great  a  distance 
from  Paris.  But  he  knew  life  well  and  men  better, 
so  his  pride  was  in  no  way  flattered  by  the  achieve- 
ment. He  was  worried  and  morose.  Life  held  only 
one  ambition  for  him,  and  that  was  the  badge  of 
the  Brece  Hunt.  He  longed  for  it  with  inherited 
tenacity,  with  the  forcefulness  that  his  father,  the 
great  Baron,  had  shown  in  his  conquest  of  souls, 
bodies,  and  things,  but  not  with  the  deep,  clear- 
sighted thought  or  genius  of  his  stupendous  parent. 
He  felt  himself  inferior  to  his  wealth  ;  this  made 
him  unhappy,  and,  in  consequence,  spiteful. 

"  They  only  give  their  blessed  badge  to  dukes 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  179 

and  peers,  I  know,"  he  reflected.  "The  Breces 
are  overrun  with  Americans  and  Jewesses,  and  I'm 
as  good  as  they  any  day  !  " 

He  threw  his  peeled  potato  angrily  into  the 
cauldron,  at  which  Private  Cocot,  with  a  big  laugh 
and  a  big  oath,  cried  out : 

"  There  he  goes,  upsetting  the  broth,  damn 
him  !  " 

And  Briqueballe,  who  was  a  simple  soul,  and  of 
the  same  year,  made  merry  at  the  jest.  He  rejoiced, 
too,  at  the  thought  that  he  would  soon  see  his 
father,  who  was  a  harness-maker  at  Cayeux,  and 
his  home  again. 

"  That  old  hypocrite  Guitrel  will  do  nothing  for 
me,"  thought  Private  Bonmont.  "  He  is  a  clever 
chap  is  Guitrel,  cleverer  than  I  ever  thought. 
He  has  made  his  own  conditions.  So  long  as  he  is 
not  bishop  he  will  not  say  anything  to  his  friends,  the 
Breces.     He  is  a  deep  beggar,  and  no  mistake  !  " 

"  Bonmont,"  said  Briqueballe,  "  stop  chucking 
the  peelings  into  the  pot  !  " 

"  It's  a  dirty  trick  !  "  said  Cocot. 

"  I'm  not  on  duty  this  week,"  objected  Bonmont. 

Thus  spoke  these  three  men  because  they  were 
on  an  equal  footing. 

Bonmont  went  on  thinking : 

"  I  can  do  without  Guitrel.  There  are  plenty 
of  others  who  will  get  the  badge  for  me.    Terre- 


i8o  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

mondre,  for  instance ;  he  knows  the  Breces 
well.  His  family  is  quite  good,  and  he's  all  right 
— but  not  to  be  relied  upon ;  he's  a  dodger,  a 
regular  dodger  !  He'll  promise  everything  and  do 
nothing." 

"  I  couldn't  very  well  ask  old  Travies,  who  goes 
out  helping  Rivoire  the  poacher.  There  is  General 
Cartier  de  Chalmot ;  he'd  only  have  to  open  his 
mouth — but  the  old  crock  hates  me." 

These  were  Private  Bonmont's  opinions,  and  they 
were  not  altogether  unfounded.  General  Cartier 
de  Chalmot  did  not  like  him.  "  If  little  Bonmont 
were  under  me  I'd  make  him  sit  up,"  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  saying.  As  for  the  General's  wife,  her 
indignation  regarding  him  knew  no  bounds  since 
the  day  she  had  heard  him  say  at  a  ball :  "  Putting 
all  sentiment  aside,  mother  is  too  damned  lazy." 
No,  young  Bonmont  was  not  mistaken,  it  was  no 
good  looking  for  help  either  from  the  General  or 
his  wife. 

He  searched  his  memory  to  try  and  discover 
some  one  to  render  him  the  service  which  Guitrel  had 
refused  him.  M.  Lerond  ?  He  was  too  cautious. 
Jacques  de  Courtrai  ?     He  was  in  Madagascar. 

Young  Bonmont  heaved  a  deep  sigh.  As  he  peeled 
his  last  potato  a  sudden  inspiration  came  to  him. 

"  Supposing  I  made  Guitrel  a  bishop  !  That 
would  be  rich  !  " 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  i8i 

As  this  idea  flashed  through  his  brain  a  torrent  of 
curses  sounded  in  his  ears. 

"  Novi  de  Dieu !  Nom  de  Dieu  !  Misere  de 
misere  !  "  yelled  Briqueballe  and  Cocot,  as  a  shower 
of  soot  fell  suddenly  upon  them,  around  them,  and 
into  the  cauldron,  soiling  their  wet  fingers,  and 
blackening  the  potatoes,  which  a  moment  before 
had  been  ivory  white. 

Looking  up  to  seek  the  cause  of  their  trouble, 
they  espied  through  the  black  shower  some  of  their 
comrades  upon  the  roof  removing  a  long  chimney 
flue,  and  shaking  out  the  soot  with  which  it  was 
filled.  As  they  caught  sight  of  them,  Cocot  and 
Briqueballe  cried  as  with  one  voice  : 

"  Hi  !  you  up  there  !  what  the  devil  are  you 
doing  ?  " 

And  they  hurled  at  their  comrades  all  the  curses 
their  simple  souls  could  conjure  up.  They  were 
innocent  curses,  full  of  genuine  anger,  and  they 
filled  the  barrack  yard  with  echoes  in  the  accents 
of  Picardy  and  Burgundy.  Then  the  face  of 
Sergeant  Lafile,  with  its  slight  moustache,  ap- 
peared over  the  edge  of  the  roof,  and,  amid  the 
sudden  silence,  a  sarcastic  voice  rasped  out  these 
words : 

"  Three  days  for  you  two  down  there.  Do  you 
understand  ? " 

Briqueballe   and    Cocot   stood   overwhelmed   by 


1 82  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

the  hard  blows  of  fate  and  disciphne,  while  their 
companion,  Private  Bonmont,  reflected : 

"  I  can  make  a  bishop  right  enough.  I've  only 
got  to  speak  to  Huguet,  and  it's  done  !  " 

Huguet  was  then  president  of  the  council.  His 
cabinet  was  a  moderate  one,  supported  by  the 
Conservatives.  When  forming  it,  Huguet  had 
been  careful  to  safeguard  capital,  gaining  thereby 
a  calm  self-confidence  and  not  a  little  pride.  He 
was  Minister  of  Finance,  and  was  supposed  to  have 
given  stability  to  the  public  credit,  which  had  been 
shaken  by  his  Radical  predecessor. 

He  had  not  always  been  so  clever  a  statesman. 
He  had  been  a  Radical  in  his  hard-working  youth, 
a  Radical,  and  a  revolutionary  even.  He  had  been 
private  secretary  to  the  late  Baron  de  Bonmont,  for 
whom  he  wrote  books  and  edited  papers.  In  those 
days  he  was  a  democrat,  and  a  dreamer  in  matters 
of  finance.  That  was  the  baron's  wish,  for  the  great 
man  was  anxious  to  conciliate  the  progressive 
factions  of  Parliament,  and  therefore  liked  to 
appear  generous  and  even  something  of  a  dreamer 
too.  This  was  what  he  called  "  giving  himself 
room."  It  was  he  who  made  his  secretary  member 
for  Montil ;  Huguet  owed  everything  to  him,  and 
young  Bonmont  realized  all  this. 

"  I  shall  only  have  to  say  the  word  to  Huguet," 
he  thought.     That  was  how  he  put  it  to  himself, 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  183 

at  any  rate.  But  he  was  not  really  sure  of  it,  for 
he  knew  that  M.  Huguet,  President  of  the  Council, 
was  careful  to  avoid  any  encounter  with  Private 
Bonmont,  and  did  not  like  to  be  reminded  of  the 
old  ties  that  had  associated  him  with  the  great 
baron,  who  had  died  so  opportunely,  amid  dawning 
rumours  of  scandal.  So,  on  second  thoughts, 
Private  Bonmont  sagely  decided  that  it  would  be 
necessary  to  find  some  one  else. 

He  sat  down  upon  the  ground  beside  the  pump, 
that  he  might  be  able  to  think  more  at  his  ease, 
and  was  soon  lost  in  meditation.  In  his  imagina- 
tion every  person  who  might,  he  thought,  prove 
capable  of  disposing  of  the  episcopal  crozier  and 
mitre  filed  in  a  long  procession  before  him.  Mon- 
seignor  Chariot,  M.  de  Goulet,  Worms -Clavelin, 
the  frefet,  Madame  Worms  -  Clavelin,  and  M. 
Lacarelle  crossed  his  mental  vision,  and  many 
others  beside.  He  was  awakened  from  his  reverie 
by  Private  Jouvencie,  licentiate  in  law,  pumping 
water  down  his  back. 

"  Jouvencie,"  said  Bonmont  solemnly,  wiping  his 
neck,  "  what  is  Loyer  minister  of  ?  " 

"  Loyer  ?  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  and 
Public  Worship,"  replied  Jouvencie. 

"  Does  he  appoint  the  bishops  ?  " 

"  Yes." 


1 84  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  You  are  sure  ?  " 
"  Yes,  why  ?  " 

"  Oh,  nothing,"  repHed  Bonmont. 
But  to  himself  he  said  : 
I've  got  it — Madame  de  Gromance  !  " 


a  T', 


CHAPTER  XII 

HAT    same     evening    M.    Leterrier 
came  to  see  M.  Bergeret. 

At  the  sound  of  the  bell  Riquet 
leapt  down  from  the  couch  he 
was  sharing  with  his  master,  and, 
with  one  eye  on  the  door,  set  up  a  terrific  barking. 
When  M.  Leterrier  came  into  the  room,  the  dog 
received  him  with  hostile  growls  ;  the  portly  form 
and  full,  grave  countenance  fringed  with  grey 
beard,  were  not  familiar  to  him. 
'"  You  too  !  "  murmured  the  rector  gently. 
"  Please  excuse  him,"  said  M.  Bergeret.  "  He 
is  a  domesticated  animal.  When  men  undertook 
the  training  of  his  forefathers,  and,  in  so  doing, 
formed  the  characteristics  he  has  inherited,  they 
themselves  regarded  a  stranger  as  an  enemy.  They 
did  not  inculcate  in  dogs  charity  towards  the  human 
race.  Thoughts  of  universal  brotherhood  have  not 
entered  the  soul  of  Riquet ;  he  stands  for  the  old 
order  of  things." 

"  And  a  very  ancient  one,"  replied  the  rector, 
185 


1 86  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  for  it  is,  of  course,  clear  that  nowadays  we  live 
in  unity,  peace  and  concord,  with  one  another  !  " 

He  spoke  these  words  with  a  bitterness  not 
natural  to  him,  but  for  some  time  past  his  thoughts 
and  speech  had  changed. 

However,  Riquet  continued  to  bark  and  growl ; 
he  was  evidently  doing  his  best  to  scare  away  the 
stranger  by  his  voice  and  fearsome  appearance,  but, 
as  fast  as  the  enemy  advanced,  he  retreated.  He 
was  a  faithful  house-dog,  but  cautious  withal. 

At  last  his  master,  growing  impatient,  picked 
him  up  by  the  scruff  of  the  neck,  and  gave  him  two 
or  three  taps  on  his  nose,  whereupon  Riquet 
immediately  stopped  barking,  wriggled,  and  put 
out  a  pink,  curling  tongue  to  lick  the  hand  that 
had  chastised  him,  his  beautiful  eyes  full  of  gentle 
sadness  the  while. 

"  Poor  Riquet,"  sighed  M.  Leterrier,  "that  is  all 
you  get  for  your  zeal." 

"  I  must  drive  things  into  his  head,"  replied  M. 
Bergeret,  pushing  him  behind  him  at  the  back  of 
his  chair.  "  Now  he  knows  he  was  wrong  to  greet 
you  in  such  fashion.  Riquet  conceives  of  one  evil 
only,  physical  suffering,  and  of  but  one  happiness, 
the  absence  of  suffering.  He  identifies  crime  and 
punishment,  inasmuch  as  for  him  a  misdeed  is  a 
deed  that  is  punished.  If  by  accident  I  step  on 
his  paw,  he  feels  himself  to  be  the  guilty  party, 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  187 

and  begs  my  pardon  ;  justice  and  injustice  do  not 
trouble  his  infallible  wisdom." 

"  Such  philosophy  spares  him  the  mental  anguish 
some  of  us  are  experiencing  to-day,"  said  M. 
Leterrier. 

Since  the  day  he  had  signed  the  protest  of  the 
"  Intellectuals  "  M.  Leterrier  lived  in  a  state  of 
perpetual  astonishment.  He  had  set  forth  his 
reasons  in  a  letter  to  the  local  newspapers,  and 
could  not  understand  his  opponents  who  called 
him  a  Jew,  a  Prussian,  an  "  Intellectual,"  and 
said  that  he  had  been  bought.  What  also  surprised 
him  was  that  Eusebe  Boulet,  the  editor  of  the 
Phare,  referred  to  him  daily  as  a  disloyal  citizen  and 
an  opponent  of  the  Army. 

"  Would  you  believe  it  ?  "  he  cried.  "  They 
have  dared  to  put  in  the  Phare  that  I  insult  the 
Army !  /  insult  the  Army  !  I  who  have  a  son 
serving  with  the  colours  !  " 

The  two  professors  spoke  at  length  of  the  Affair, 
and  M.  Leterrier,  of  the  still  guileless  soul,  repeated: 

"  I  cannot  understand  why  political  considerations 
and  party  passions  should  be  brought  into  the  affair 
at  all.  It  is  a  question  of  moral  right,  and  far  above 
such  things  !  " 

"  Exactly  !  "  repHed  M.  Bcrgcret.  "  But  you 
would  not  be  in  a  state  of  perpetual  astonishment 
if  you  would  only  remember  that  the  passions  of 


1 88  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

the  mob  are  simple  and  violent,  and  that  it  is 
impossible  to  reason  with  such  people.  Few  men 
are  clever  enough  to  keep  control  of  their  minds 
during  difficult  investigations,  and  it  has  required 
sustained  attention  on  our  part  to  discover  the 
truth  of  the  matter.  It  has  required  sustained 
attention,  and  the  force  of  minds  trained  to  the 
examination  of  facts  with  method  and  sagacity. 
Advantages  such  as  these,  and  the  satisfaction  oj^ 
knowing  oneself  in  possession  of  them  are  well 
worth  a  few  contemptible  insults." 

"  When  will  it  all  end  ?  "  asked  M.  Leterrier. 

"  In   six  months,  perhaps,  or   twenty  years — o 
never,"  replied  M.  Bergeret. 

"  Where  will  they  draw  the  line  ?  "  asked  M. 
Leterrier.  "  Scelere  velandum  est  scelus.  It  is  killing 
me,  my  friend,  it  is  killing  me  !  " 

It  was  true.  His  sense  of  right  and  wrong  had 
gone  awry,  he  was  feverish  and  his  liver  was  out  of 
order. 

For  the  hundredth  time  he  expounded  the  proofs 
which  he  had  amassed,  with  all  the  prudence  of  his 
mind  and  all  the  zeal  of  his  heart.  He  exposed  the 
first  causes  of  the  error,  which  slowly  but  surely 
appeared  behind  the  masses  of  untruth  which  had 
veiled  it.  Then,  strong  in  the  conviction  of  right, 
he  vigorously  demanded  : 

''  What  answer  can  they  give  ?  " 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  189 

At  this  point  of  the  conversation  the  two  pro- 
fessors heard  a  great  clamour  rising  from  the  street. 
Riquet  Ufted  up  his  head  and  Hstened  anxiously. 

"  What  is  it  now  ?  "  asked  M.  Leterrier. 

"  It  is  nothing,"  replied  M.  Bergeret,  "  only 
Pecus  !  " 

It  was,  indeed,  as  he  had  said  a  crowd  of  people 
uttering  loud  cries. 

"  I  think  I  hear  '  Conspuez  Leterrier !  '  "  said 
the  rector.  "  They  must  have  heard  that  I  am 
here  !  " 

"  I  think  so  too,"  said  M.  Bergeret,  "  and  I 
believe  that  they'll  soon  be  shouting  '  Conjpuez 
Bergeret !  '  Pecus  is  fed  on  ancient  ideas,  and  his 
aptitude  for  error  is  considerable.  Feeling  himself 
incapable  of  bringing  reason  to  bear  upon  hereditary 
prejudices,  he  prudently  sticks  to  the  heritage  of 
nursery  tales,  handed  down  by  his  forefathers. 
This  particular  kind  of  wisdom  preserves  him  from 
errors  that  would  otherwise  do  him  harm.  He 
keeps  to  the  old  and  tried  errors.  He  is  imitative, 
and  would  be  more  so,  were  it  not  that  he  involun- 
tarily deforms  everything  he  imitates,  such  de- 
formations going  by  the  name  of  progress.  Pecus 
never  thinks,  and  it  is  unjust  to  say  that  he  deceives 
himself.  To  his  unhappiness,  be  it  said,  everything 
combines  to  deceive  him.  He  knows  not  the  mean- 
ing of  doubt,  for  doubt  springs  from  thought.     Yet 


190  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

his  ideas  are  ever  changing,  and  at  times  his  stupidity 
turns  to  violence.  He  excels  in  nothing,  for  every- 
thing that  is  in  any  way  excellent  flies  before  him, 
and  ceases  to  be  his.  He  wanders  and  languishes 
and  suffers.  We  must  give  him  deep,  sorrowful 
sympathy  ;  we  must  even  venerate  him,  for  it  is 
from  him  that  all  virtue,  all  beauty,  and  all  human 
glory  spring.     Poor  Pecus  !  " 

As  M.  Bergeret  was  pronouncing  these  words,  a 
stone  came  hurtling  through  the  window  and  fell 
upon  the  floor. 

"  There  is  an  argument  !  "  said  the  rector,  picking 
up  the  stone. 

"  And  rhomboid  in  shape,"  said  M.  Bergeret. 

"  It  bears  no  inscription,"  said  the  rector. 

"  That  is  a  pity !  "  answered  M.  Bergeret. 
"  Commander  Aspertini  found  at  Modena  some 
sling  stones  used  by  the  soldiers  of  Hirtius  and  of 
Pansa  against  the  followers  of  Octavius,  in  the  year 
43  B.C.  These  stones  bore  inscriptions,  indicating 
whom  they  were  intended  to  strike.  M.  Aspertini 
showed  me  one  destined  for  Livy.  I  leave  you  to 
guess  in  what  form  the  soldier's  humour  couched 
the  terms  of  the  inscription." 

His  voice  was  drowned  at  this  point  by  cries  of 
^' Conspuez  Bergeret/  Mort  aux  juifs !  ^^  which 
rose  from  the  square. 

Taking  the  stone  from  the  hands  of  the  rector, 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  191 

M.  Bergeret  placed  it  upon  his  table  to  serve  as  a 
letter-weight,  and  as  soon  as  he  could  hear  himself 
speak,  went  on  with  his  remarks : 

"  Horrible  cruelties  were  committed  after  the 
defeat  of  the  two  consuls  at  Modena.  It  cannot 
be  denied  that  society  has  improved  since  then." 

The  crowd  went  on  yelling,  however,  and  Riquet 
replied  to  it  with  heroic  barks. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

EING  in  Paris  on  sick  leave,  young 
Bonmont  went  to  see  the  Automo- 
bile Exhibition  that  was  being  held 
near  the  Terrasse  des  Feuillants, 
in  the  Jardin  des  Tuileries.  As 
he  walked  down  one  of  the  side  galleries  reserved 
for  parts  and  accessories,  he  examined  the  Pluto 
Carburettor,  the  Abeille  Motor,  and  the  Alphonse 
Lubricator,  with  an  unenthusiastic  eye  and  a  weary 
curiosity.  With  a  curt  nod  or  wave  of  the  hand  he 
returned  the  greetings  of  timid  young  men  and 
obsequious  old  ones.  He  was  neither  proud  nor 
triumphant,  but  simple,  rather  common-looking, 
and  armed  only  with  the  undeviating  and  tranquil 
air  of  malevolence  that  stood  him  in  such  good 
stead  in  his  dealings  with  men  ;  he  went  his  way, 
a  short,  hunched-up,  rather  hump-backed  little 
figure,  broad-shouldered,  strong  and  vigorous 
enough,  although  already  attacked  by  disease. 

He  went   down   the   steps    of   the   terrace,  and 
while  examining  the  trade-marks  distinguishing  the 

192 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  193 

different  lubricating  oils,  he  came  upon  one  of 
the  statues  of  the  gardens,  which  had  been  shut  in 
the  tent  enclosure  ;  it  was  a  classical  study  in  the 
French  style,  a  bronze  hero  whose  academic  nudity 
displayed  the  sculptor's  skill,  and  who  in  a  fine 
gymnastic  attitude  was  felling  a  monster  to  the 
ground.  Misled,  no  doubt,  by  the  apparently 
sporting  air  of  the  group,  and  never  reflecting  that 
the  statue  had  probably  been  in  the  garden  long 
before  the  Exhibition,  Bonmont  instinctively  began 
to  wonder  what  connexion  it  could  have  with 
motoring.  He  thought  that  the  monster,  a  serpent, 
which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  did  look  like  a  tube,  was 
intended  to  represent  a  pneumatic  tyre,  but  his 
thoughts  were  very  hazy  and  confused.  He  turned 
aside  his  lack-lustre  gaze  almost  immediately,  and 
entered  the  great  hall  where  the  cars  on  platforms 
complacently  displayed  the  clumsy,  imperfectly  de- 
veloped, and  still  ill-balanced  forms  which  at  the 
same  time  struck  the  onlooker  with  an  irritating 
impression  of  self-satisfaction  and  conceit. 

Young  Bonmont  was  not  enjoying  himself  there  ; 
he  never  enjoyed  himself  anywhere.  But  he  might 
have  found  a  certain  pleasure  in  inhaling  the  odour 
of  rubber  and  oils  that  filled  the  air  ;  he  might  have 
examined  the  autocars  and  autolettes  with  a  little 
interest,  but  that  for  the  moment  he  was  possessed 
by  one  single  idea.     He  was  thinking  of  the  Brece 


194  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Hunt,  and  the  longing  to  obtain  the  badge  filled 
his  very  soul.  From  his  father  he  had  inherited  this 
tenacious  will  and  the  burning  intensity  with  which 
he  coveted  the  Brece  badge  was  mingled  in  his  veins 
with  the  fever  of  incipient  phthisis.  He  longed 
for  it  with  all  the  impatience  of  a  child — for  his 
mind  was  still  very  childish — and  he  longed  for  it 
with  the  cunning  tenacity  of  a  calculating  and 
ambitious  man — for  he  knew  human  nature  well, 
having  in  a  few  years  learned  many  things. 

He  knew  that,  as  far  as  the  Due  de  Brece  was 
concerned,  he,  with  his  French  name  and  his 
Roman  title,  was  still  Gutenberg,  the  Jew.  He 
also  realized  the  power  of  his  millions,  and  he  knew 
more  upon  this  subject  than  will  ever  be  grasped 
by  peoples  or  their  rulers.  So  he  was  neither  de- 
luded nor  discouraged.  He  took  in  the  situation 
accurately,  for  he  was  clear-headed.  True  the 
anti-Jewish  campaign  had  been  conducted  with  the 
utmost  vehemence  in  agricultural  districts  like  his 
own,  which  contained  no  Jews,  but  a  large  number 
of  clergy.  Recent  events  and  the  newspaper  articles 
had  been  a  great  strain  upon  the  feeble  head  of  the 
Due  de  Brece,  the  leader  of  the  Catholic  party  in 
his  Department.  Doubtless,  the  Bonmonts  were  of 
the  same  way  of  thinking  as  the  grandsons  of  emigres, 
and  were  as  full  of  Royalist  devotion  and  quite  as 
zealous  Catholics  as  himself.     But  the  Duke  could 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  195 

not  forget  their  origin — he  was  a  simple,  obstinate 
man,  and  young  Bonmont  was  well  aware  of  this. 
He  reviewed  the  situation  once  again  in  front  of 
the  Dubos-Laquille  motor  omnibus,  and  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  best  way  of  obtaining  the 
de  Brece  badge  was  to  procure  the  bishop's  crozier 
for  M.  I'Abbe  Guitrel. 

''  I  must  have  him  nominated,"  he  reflected. 
"  It  is  absolutely  necessary.  It  will  be  easy  enough 
once  I  know  how  to  set  about  it."  And,  full  of 
regret,  he  added,  "  Father  would  have  advised  me 
in  the  matter  if  he  had  lived.  He  must  have  made 
more  than  one  bishop  in  Gambetta's  time." 

Although  he  was  not  quick  at  generalisation, 
he  went  on  to  remind  himself  that  anything 
could  be  bought  for  money,  a  thought  which 
imbued  him  with  great  confidence  in  the  success 
of  his  enterprise.  Reflecting  thus,  he  looked  up 
and  saw  young  Gustave  Dellion  a  little  in  front 
of  him,  looking  at  a  yellow-wheeled  car. 

DeUion  caught  sight  of  Bonmont  at  the  same 
moment,  but  pretending  he  had  not  seen  him, 
he  beat  a  retreat  behind  the  body  of  the  vehicle. 
He  was  under  long-standing  financial  obligations 
to  Bonmont,  and,  for  the  present,  was  in  no 
way  prepared  to  discharge  them.  The  mere  sight 
of  his  friend's  blue  eye  gave  him  a  hollow  feel- 
ing  in    the    pit  of   his    stomach,   for   it  was    Bon- 


196  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

mont's  habit  to  stare  silently  and  terribly  at  those 
of  his  friends  who  owed  him  money.  Dellion 
knew  all  about  that,  and  was  much  surprised  when 
the  little  bull,  as  he  termed  him,  joined  him  in  his 
retreat  between  the  canvas  wall  of  the  tent  and  the 
yellow-wheeled  car,  holding  out  a  friendly  hand, 
and  saying  with  a  pleasant  smile : 

"  How  are  you  ?  Nice  car  !  A  bit  long  in  the 
body,  but  not  so  bad,  is  it  ?  That's  what  you  want 
for  Valcombe,  my  dear  Gustave.  Yes,  indeed  ! 
There's  a  pretty  puff-puff  that  would  rip  along 
nicely  between  Valcombe  and  Montil." 

The  mechanic  who  was  standing  by  the  motor 
thought  good  to  intervene,  and  to  point  out  to 
M.  le  Baron  that  the  vehicle  could  be  turned  into 
an  open  six-seater,  or  a  closed  phaeton  with  seats  for 
four.  Seeing  that  he  was  dealing  with  connoisseurs, 
he  launched  out  into  technical  explanations. 

"  The  motor  is  composed  of  two  horizontal 
cylinders ;  each  piston  works  a  crank  inclined  at 
180°  to  its  neighbour." 

In  businesslike  terms  he  demonstrated  the  ad- 
vantages of  such  a  combination.  Then,  in  answer 
to  a  question  by  Gustave  Dellion,  he  said  that  the 
carburettor  was  automatic,  and  to  be  regulated  once 
for  all  at  the  moment  of  starting. 

He  stopped  speaking,  and  the  two  young  fellows 
stood  there  silent  and  attentive.     At  last,  pushing 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  197 

his  stick  between  the  spokes  of  one  of  the  wheels, 
Gustave  Dellion  remarked : 

"Do  you  see,  Bonmont  ?  Steering  is  done  hy 
differential  gear  !  " 

"  It  is  very  easy  to  handle,"  said  the  mechanic. 

Gustave  Dellion  loved  an  automobile,  and  not, 
like  Bonmont,  with  an  already  satiated  love.  He 
gazed  at  the  vehicle  which,  in  spite  of  the  stiffness 
of  modern  body-work,  looked  like  a  great  animal, 
a  conventional,  banal,  though  well-behaved  monster, 
with  an  apology  for  a  head  between  the  lamps  that 
looked  like  two  huge  eyes. 

"  Not  such  a  bad  puff-puff,"  whispered  young 
Bonmont  to  his  friend.    "  Why  don't  you  buy  it  ?  " 

*'  Buy  it  ?  Can  you  do  anything  you  like  when 
you  are  so  unfortunate  as  to  possess  a  father  !  " 
sighed  Gustave  Dellion.  "  You  don't  know  what 
a  nuisance  a  family  is — what  a  worry."  Then, 
with  feigned  assurance,  he  added,  "  And  that, 
my  dear  Bonmont,  reminds  me  that  I  owe  you  a 
small " 

A  friendly  hand  fell  upon  his  shoulder,  cutting 
him  short,  and  to  his  surprise  there  stood  at  his 
side  a  little  fair  man,  his  head  sunk  between  his 
shoulders,  giving  him  the  appearance  of  a  slight 
hump,  broad-chested,  and  strong-backed — a  little, 
simple-looking,  fair  man,  who  regarded  him  with 
extraordinarily  kind  blue  eyes  and  a  sweet  smile. 


198  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  You  old  fool !  "  said  this  little  man,  suggesting 
a  good-natured  little  buffalo  shedding  his  wool  on 
the  bushes  out  of  pure  kindness  of  heart. 

Gustave  no  longer  recognized  the  Bonmont  he 
had  known,  and  was  both  touched  and  surprised. 
Jumping  into  the  car,  the  little  Baron  began  to 
handle  the  steering-wheel  under  the  benevolent 
eye  of  the  mechanic. 

"  So  you  drive,  Bonmont  ?  "  ventured  Gustave 
with  deference. 

"  Occasionally,"  returned  young  Bonmont. 

Then,  with  one  hand  upon  the  steering-wheel,  he 
related  a  motor-tour  he  had  made  in  Touraine 
during  one  of  his  absences  on  sick  leave,  from  which 
he  always  returned  worse  than  he  went  away.  He 
had  done  thirty  miles  an  hour.  Of  course,  the 
roads  were  dry  and  in  good  condition,  but  there 
were  cattle,  children,  and  frightened  horses  to  pass, 
all  of  which  might  have  caused  trouble.  You  had  to 
keep  your  eyes  about  you,  and  never  let  the  other 
fellow  touch  the  wheel.  He  related  a  few  incidents 
of  the  tour,  one  adventure  with  a  milkwoman 
standing  out  particularly  in  his  mind. 

"  I  saw  the  old  woman  coming  along,"  he  said, 
"  taking  up  the  whole  of  the  road  with  her  horse 
and  cart.  I  sounded  my  horn,  but  the  old  creature 
never  moved  aside.  Then  I  made  straight  for  her. 
She    was    new    to   that    trick.       She    drew    up    by 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  199 

the  side  of  the  road,  puUing  so  hard  at  her  horse 
that  he  fell  in  a  heap  with  the  cart,  milk-pails,  old 
woman  and  all,  upon  a  pile  of  stones ;  so  I  left  them 
to  it  and  went  on,"  concluded  young  Bonmont,  as 
he  jumped  out  of  the  car.  "  And,  in  spite  of  the 
dust  and  the  noise,  motoring  is  a  very  pleasant 
way  of  getting  about.  You  try  it,  my  dear 
fellow." 

"  He  is  a  good  sort,  after  all,"  thought  young 
Dellion  admiringly.  And  his  wonder  grew  when, 
dragging  him  along  by  the  arm  through  the  great 
hall,  Bonmont  said  to  him  : 

"  You  are  quite  right.  Don't  buy  that  motor. 
I'll  lend  you  my  runabout.  I  shan't  want  it, 
because  I've  got  to  go  back,  m.y  leave  is  nearly  up. 

Besides By  the  way,  do  you  know  if  Madame 

de  Gromance  is  in  Paris  ?  " 

"  I  believe  so,  but  I  am  not  quite  sure,"  replied 
Gustave.    "  It  is  some  time  since  I  saw  her." 

This  was  in  one  way  an  honourable  falsehood, 
for  at  ten  minutes  past  seven  on  the  preceding 
evening  he  had  left  Madame  de  Gromance  in  her 
room  at  the  hotel  where  they  had  their  rendez- 
vous. 

Bonmont  did  not  reply,  but,  com.ing  to  a  full 
stop  before  a  notice  in  two  languages,  forbidding 
smoking,  he  gazed  at  it  silently  and  thoughtfully. 
Gustave,  following  his  example,  remained  speech- 


200  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

less,  thinking  it  would  not  be  prudent  to  bring  the 
interview  to  an  end.     So  he  added  : 

"  But  I  may  see  her  again  soon.  I  can  see  her, 
if  you  will  tell  me " 

The  little  Baron  looked  him  straight  in  the  eyes, 
and  said : 

"  Would  you  like  to  do  me  a  favour  ?  " 

Gustave  assented  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a 
good-natured  soul  and  the  uneasiness  of  a  person 
suddenly  embarked  upon  a  difficult  enterprise.  It 
was  none  the  less  true  that  Gustave  could  do 
Ernest  de  Bonmont  a  favour,  and  the  latter  pro- 
ceeded to  enlighten  him  on  the  subject. 

"  If  you  would  like  to  do  me  a  favour,  my  dear 
Gustave,  get  Madame  de  Gromance  to  go  and  see 
Loyer,  and  ask  him  to  make  Abbe  Guitrel  a  bishop." 
And  he  added,  "  You  would  do  me  a  genuine 
service." 

To  this  request  Gustave  replied  by  a  stupefied 
silence  and  a  startled  look,  not  that  he  intended  to 
refuse,  but  because  he  had  not  grasped  the  situation. 
Young  Bonmont  had  to  repeat  the  same  words 
twice  over,  and  to  explain  that  Loyer  was  Minister 
of  Public  Worship  and  nominated  the  bishops. 
He  was  very  patient,  and  little  by  little  Gustave 
understood  what  was  required  of  him  ;  he  even 
managed  to  repeat  what  he  had  heard  without 
making  a  single  mistake  : 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  201 

"  You  want  me  to  tell  Madame  de  Gromance 
to  go  and  ask  Loyer,  who  is  Minister  of  Public 
Worship,  to  make  Guitrel  a  bishop  ?  " 

"  Bishop  of  Tourcoing." 

"  Tourcoing  !    Is  that  in  France  ?  " 

"  Of  course." 

"  Ah  !  "  said  Gustave  thoughtfully,  and  he  fell 
into  a  reverie. 

Serious  objections  came  to  him,  and,  at  the  risk 
of  appearing  disobliging,  he  would  mention  them. 
It  seemed  to  him  that  the  request  entailed  a  good 
deal,  and  he  did  not  want  to  enter  upon  it  lightly. 
Timidly  and  hesitatingly  he  formulated  his  first 
objection,  which  was  a  natural  one. 

"  It  isn't  a  trick,  is  it  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  a  trick  ?  "  said  Bonmont 
shortly. 

"  No,  really,"  protested  Gustave,  "  you  aren't 
pulling  my  leg  ?  " 

He  was  still  in  doubt,  but  the  contemptuous  look 
of  the  little  fair  man  dispersed  all  doubt. 

With  great  firmness  and  decision  he  declared : 

*'  As  long  as  I  know  it  is  a  serious  matter,  you  can 
rely  upon  me.    I  can  be  serious  when  necessary." 

He  was  silent  awhile,  and  the  difficulties  con- 
fronting him  again  rose  in  his  mind.  Gently  and 
timidly  he  said  : 

"  Do    you    think    that    Madame   dc   Gromance 


202  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

knows  the  minister  well  enough  to  ask  such  a — a — 
favour  ?  Because,  you  know,  she  never  mentions 
Loyer  to  me." 

"  And  that,"  replied  the  little  Baron,  "  is  prob- 
ably because  she  has  other  subjects  to  discuss  with 
you.  I  don't  mean  that  she  is  keen  on  Loyer,  but 
she  thinks  him  a  good  old  sort,  and  no  fool.  They 
got  to  know  each  other  three  years  ago  on  the  plat- 
form at  the  unveiling  of  the  statue  to  Jeanne  d'Arc. 
Loyer  would  be  only  too  delighted  to  do  anything  to 
please  Madame  de  Gromance,  and  I  can  assure  you 
he  isn't  a  bad  sort.  When  he  puts  on  his  best  coat 
he  looks  like  a  retired  fencing-master.  She  can  go 
and  see  him  all  right,  he  will  be  quite  nice  to  her 
— and  he  will  most  certainly  do  her  no  harm  !  " 

"  In  that  case,"  said  Gustave,  "  she  is  to  ask  him 
to  make  Guitrel  a  bishop." 

"  Yes." 

"  Bishop  of  where  did  you  say  ?  "  . 

"  Bishop  of  Tourcoing,"  repeated  young  Bon- 
mont.    "  I'd  better  write  it  down  for  you." 

Picking  up  from  a  table  before  him  the  trade 
card  of  the  builder  of  the  "  Reine  des  Pygmees," 
he  wrote  upon  it  with  his  little  gold  pencil,  "  Make 
Guitrel  Bishop  of  Tourcoing." 

Gustave  took  the  card,  and  the  idea  which  at 
first  had  appeared  to  him  so  strange  and  weird 
now  seemed  a  simple  and  natural  one.     His  mind 


THE  AiMETHYST  RING  203 

had  grown  accustomed  to  it,  and  as  he  put  the 
card  in  his  pocket  he  repeated  in  the  gHbbest 
way : 

"  Make  Guitrel  Bishop  of  Tourcoing.  Right  you 
are  !    You  can  rely  on  me." 

In  this  manner  the  words  of  Madame  Dellion  were 
fulfilled,  who  speaking  of  her  son  one  day  had 
said,  "  Gustave  does  not  learn  quickly,  but  he  re- 
members what  he  has  learned,  and  that  is  perhaps 
best." 

"  You  know,"  said  Ernest  seriously,  "  I  can 
answer  for  Guitrel  making  a  good  bishop." 

"  So  much  the  better,"  replied  Gustave,  "  be- 
cause  "    And  he  did  not  finish  his  sentence. 

They  had  now  reached  the  exit,  however. 

"  I  shall  be  in  Paris  until  the  end  of  the  week," 
said  Bonmont.  "  Let  nie  know  how  things  are 
going  ;  there  is  no  time  to  lose,  for  the  candidates 
are  being  chosen  now.  We  will  speak  of  the  car 
at  another  time." 

As  they  reached  the  flight  of  flag-decorated  steps, 
he  took  Gustave's  hand  in  his  and,  holding  it,  im- 
pressed upon  him  : 

"  No  one  must  know.    The  thing  is  of  the  utmost 

moment,  my  dear  Dellion,  that  no  one,  shall  know  ; 

not  a  soul  must  know  that  Madame  de  Gromance 

is  going  to  Loyer  at  your  request.     Now  that  is 

understood,  is  it  not  ?  " 
o 


204  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  Quite,"  replied  Gustave,  heartily  shaking  his 
friend's  hand. 

The  same  evening  at  eight  o'clock  young  Bon- 
mont  went  to  visit  his  mother,  whom  he  did  not 
often  see,  but  with  whom  he  was  on  the  friendliest 
possible  terms,  and  found  her  finishing  her  toilet  in 
the  dressing-room. 

While  her  maid  was  arranging  her  hair  she  looked 
away  from  her  reflection  in  the  glass,  and  turning 
to  her  son : 

"  You  don't  look  well,"  she  said. 

Ernest's  health  had  been  worrying  her  for  some 
time.  Rara  provided  her  with  other  more  painful 
worries,  but  her  son  was,  for  all  that,  a  source  of 
anxiety. 

"  How  are  you,  mother  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I'm  very  well." 

"  You  look  it." 

"  Did  you  know  that  your  Uncle  Wallstein  has 
had  a  slight  stroke  ?  " 

"  I'm  not  surprised  ;  he  shouldn't  be  so  gay  at 
his  time  of  life,  it's  unnatural." 

"  He  is  not  so  very  old,  only  fifty-two." 

"  Fifty-two  is  not  what  you  might  call  youth- 
ful, exactly.  By  the  way,  what  about  the 
Breces  ?  " 

"  The  Breces  ?     What  about  them  ?  " 

*'  Did  they  thank  you  for  the  ciborium  ?  " 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  205 

"  They  sent  their  card,  with  a  pencilled  word  of 
thanks." 

"  That's  not  much." 

"  Well,  mon  -petit,  what  else  did  you  expect  ?  " 

She  rose  to  her  feet  and  raised  her  hands  above 
her  head  to  fix  a  diamond  cluster  in  her  hair  ; 
standing  thus  her  bare  arms  looked  like  two  handles 
springing  from  a  beautifully  shaped  amphora. 
Her  shoulders  gleamed  under  the  electric  light 
which  shone  through  transparent  shades  shaped 
like  bunches  of  fruit,  and  in  the  golden  whiteness 
of  the  skin  delicate  blue  veins  ran  down  to  the 
swell  of  her  bosom.  Her  cheeks  were  rouged  and 
her  lips  painted,  but  her  face  was  still  youthful  in 
its  health  and  vigour.  The  lines  of  her  neck, 
which  might  have  betrayed  the  passage  of  the  years, 
were  lost  in  the  beauty  of  the  skin. 

Young  Bonmont  studied  her  carefully  for  a  few 
moments,  and  then  said : 

"  Mother,  suppose  you  go  and  see  Loyer  too, 
and  ask  him  about  Abbe  Guitrel  ?  " 


CHAPTER  XIV 

^ADAME  DE  BONMONT,  who  had 

chosen  Raoul  Marcien  from  among 
all  others,  and  who  loved  him  with 
deep  affection,  was  justified  for  the 
space  of  a  few  weeks  in  congratu- 
lating herself  upon  her  choice,  and  in  believing 
herself  a  happy  woman.  A  tremendous  change 
had  taken  place  in  the  order  of  things.  Raoul, 
who  had  formerly  been  despised  or  disliked  in  all 
circles  of  society,  who  had  been  rejected  by  his 
regiment,  cut  by  his  friends,  cast  off  by  his  relations, 
expelled  from  his  club  ;  who  was  known  in  all  the 
courts  of  law  by  reason  of  the  repeated  charges  of 
swindling  brought  against  him,  had  suddenly 
become  cleansed  of  all  stain  and  purified  of  all 
dishonour.  Certain  events,  guessed  at,  no  doubt, 
and  soon  to  be  made  clear,  had  interested  the 
Government  on  his  behalf.  It  was  exceedingly 
necessary  that  Raoul  should  pass  for  an  honourable 
man.  In  public  and  in  private,  ministers  main- 
tained that  the  power  and  glory  of  France  and  the 
peace  of  the  whole  world  depended  upon  this. 

206 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  207 

His  honour  was  of  public  utility,  and  each  and  all 
did  their  best  to  make  it  an  estabHshed  fact.  The 
Government  worked  to  this  end,  as  did  the  lawyers 
and  the  newspapers,  in  fact  all  good  citizens  worked 
joyfully  for  its  estabHshment.  Madame  de  Bonmont 
experienced  both  pleasure  and  uneasiness  at  the 
sudden  transformation  of  her  lover  into  an  example 
and  a  model  for  all  Frenchmen.  She  was  made  for 
the  enjoyment  of  tranquil  joys  and  pleasures  a  deux, 
and  all  this  fame  astonished  and  made  her  ill  at 
ease.  When  with  Raoul  she  had  the  fatiguing 
sensation  of  living  perpetually  in  a  lift. 

Evidences  of  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held 
amazed  the  simple  Elizabeth  both  by  their  number 
and  extent.  Congratulations,  flattering  pledges, 
good-conduct  certificates,  compliments,  and  praises 
poured  in  from  all  the  bodies  known  and  unknown, 
and  from  all  the  public  societies  in  town  and  coun- 
try. They  came  from  the  courts,  the  barracks,  the 
archbishops'  palaces,  from  the  town  halls,  prefectures 
and  great  houses  of  France.  They  rang  out  in  the 
street  riots,  and  resounded  with  the  bugles  during 
torchlight  processions.  His  honour  shone  proudly 
forth  nowadays; -it  flamed  into  being  like  a  huge 
cross  at  an  illuminated  fete.  Whether  he  went  to 
the  Palais  de  Justice,  or  to  the  Moulin-Rouge,  he 
was  greeted  by  the  acclamations  of  the  crowd,  and 
princes  begged  for  the  honour  of  touching  his  hand. 


2o8  THE  AMETHYST   RING 

And,  in  spite  o£  all  this,  Raoul  was  not  at  peace. 
When  in  the  little  first-floor  apartment  hung  with 
sky-blue  draperies,  intended  by  Madame  de  Bonmont 
to  shelter  their  mutual  love,  he  was  always  sombre 
and  violent.  When  he  heard  his  worth  and  praises 
shouted  in  the  streets,  when  he  could  not  listen  to 
the  rumbling  wheels  of  an  omnibus  or  the  shriek  of 
a  tram  without  knowing  that  both  vehicles  con- 
tained the  supporters  and  guardians  of  his  honour, 
he  still  remained  plunged  in  the  bitterest,  most 
dismal  thoughts  and  cherished  terrible  designs. 
With  frowning  brows  and  clenched  teeth  he 
muttered  curses  ;  he  chewed  threats  as  a  sailor  chews 
his  tobacco.  "  Scoundrels  !  Wretches  !  I'll  run 
them  through  the  body  !  "  It  may  seem  almost 
impossible,  but  is,  nevertheless,  true,  that  he  was 
unconscious  of  the  people's  acclamations ;  he  did 
not  hear  them,  and  the  only  people  he  thought  of 
were  his  few  accusers,  all  of  whom  were  believed  to 
be  dispersed,  destroyed,  and  reduced  to  powder.  In 
his  imagination  he  saw  them  standing  before  him, 
with  threatening  faces,  and  at  sight  of  them  terror 
made  his  yellow  eyes  start  from  his  head. 

His  fury  was  a  source  of  consternation  to  poor 
Madame  de  Bonmont,  who  only  heard  hoarse  cries 
of  hatred  and  vengeance  coming  from  the  lips 
which  should  have  given  her  kisses  and  words  of 
love.     And  she  was  the  more  surprised  and  un- 


THE  [AMETHYST  RING  209 

comfortable  because  her  lover's  threats  were 
directed  as  much  against  friend  as  against  foe.  For 
when  he  spoke  of  "  running  them  through,"  Raoul 
never  stopped  to  make  the  subtle  distinction  be- 
tween his  defenders  and  his  adversaries.  His  great 
mind  took  in  the  whole  of  his  country,  yes,  and  the 
whole  of  the  human  race. 

e  would  spend  hours  every  day  pacing  up  and 
down  like  a  caged  lion  or  panther  in  the  two  little 
rooms  that  Madame  de  Bonmont  had  hung  with  blue 
silk  and  furnished  with  cosy  lounges  in  the  hope  of 
better  things.  "  I'll  do  for  them  !  "  he  muttered 
as  he  strode  up  and  down. 

Seated  in  one  corner  of  the  big  couch  she  would 
follow  his  movements  with  a  timid  look,  and  listen 
anxiously  to  his  words  ;  not  that  the  sentiments 
expressed  by  him  appeared  to  her  in  any  way 
unworthy  of  her  beloved  ;  instinctively  submissive, 
naturally  docile,  she  admired  strength  in  all  its 
forms,  and  flattered  herself  with  the  vague  hope 
that  a  man  who  was  capable  of  such  wholesale 
slaughter,  might  also,  at  another  time,  be  capable  of 
wonderful  embraces.  And  sitting  at  one  end  of  the 
couch,  she  waited  with  half-closed  eyes  and  gently 
heaving  bosom  for  her  Raoul's  mood  to  change. 

She  waited  in  vain !  The  vociferations  continued 
to  make  her  start : 

"  I'll  do  for  them  !  " 


210  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Occasionally  she  would  timidly  try  to  appease 
his  fury  ;  in  a  voice  as  full  as  her  figure  she  would 
murmur : 

"  But  they  are  doing  you  full  justice,  dearest — 
every  one  knows  you  to  be  a  man  of  honour  !  " 

It  may  be  true  that  the  slender,  dark-haired 
David  succeeded  in  calming  the  fury  of  Saul  with 
his  shepherd's  lute,  the  sound  of  which  was  thinner 
than  a  cricket's  chirrup  ;  Elizabeth,  less  fortunate 
than  he,  vainly  offered  to  Raoul  the  Nirvana  of  her 
sighs  and  the  splendour  of  her  pink  and  white 
self.  Without  daring  to  look  at  him,  she  ventured 
to  say : 

"  I  cannot  understand  you,  mon  ami.  You 
have  confounded  your  detractors,  the  General 
embraced  you  in  the  middle  of  the  street  the 
other  day,  and  the  ministers  .  .  ." 

She  got  no  further  ;   he  burst  out : 

"  You  mention  those  blackguards  to  me  !  They 
are  only  trying  to  find  some  way  of  getting  at  me. 
They  would  like  to  see  me  a  hundred  feet  under 
the  ground.  But  they  had  better  be  careful  ! 
I  will  devour  them  piecemeal  ! " 

Then  he  came  back  to  his  dear,  familiar  thought : 

"  I  must  do  for  them  !  " 

This  was  his  dream  : 

"  I  should  like  to  be  in  an  immense  marble  hall 
full  of  people,  and  to  lay  about  me  with  a  big  stick, 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  211 

to  strike  for  days  and  nights,  until  the  floor,  the 
ceiling,  and  the  walls  were  red  with  blood  !  " 

She  vouchsafed  no  reply,  but  only  looked  in 
silence  at  her  breast,  where  lay  the  little  bunch  of 
violets  she  had  bought  for  him  and  dared  not 
offer. 

He  gave  her  no  more  love.  It  was  over  and  done 
with.  The  hardest-hearted  man  would  have  taken 
pity  on  the  pretty,  gentle  creature  who,  with  her 
voluptuous  body  and  skin  of  milk  and  roses,  re- 
sembled some  big,  warm  flower  in  its  beauty, 
neglected,  abandoned,  and  left  without  care  or 
culture. 

She  was  suffering,  and,  being  piously  inclined, 
she  sought  a  remedy  in  religion.  Thinking  that 
an  interview  with  Abbe  Guitrel  would  be  of  great 
service  to  Raoul,  she  resolved  to  bring  the  priest 
and  her  lover  together. 


^^^S^^r 


CHAPTER  XV 

EFORE  dressing,  Philippe  Dellion 
pulled  aside  the  window-curtains, 
and,  looking  out  into  the  light- 
spangled  night,  watched  the  carriage 
lamps  passing  to  and  fro  in  the  busy 
street.  For  a  moment  or  two  the  sight  pleased 
him  ;  he  had  been  in  this  room,  separated  from  the 
outer  world,  for  the  space  of  two  hours. 

"  What  are  you  looking  at,  mon  fetit  F  "  asked 
Madame  de  Gromance,  sitting  up  in  the  bed  and 
arranging  her  tumbled  hair.  "  Do  strike  a  light, 
it  is  impossible  to  see  a  thing." 

He  lighted  the  candles  that  stood  in  little  copper 
stands  on  either  side  of  a  gilded  clock  adorned  with 
shepherds  and  shepherdesses.  The  gentle  light  re- 
flected itself  in  the  wardrobe  and  made  the  rose- 
wood cornice  glisten.  Little  rays  flickering  every- 
where in  the  room,  lit  up  the  scattered  garments 
and  died  gently  away  in  the  curtains'  folds. 

The  room  was  an  apartment  in  a  highly 
respectable  hotel,  in  a  street  near  the  Boulevard 
des    Capucines.     Madame    de    Gromance,    in    her 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  213 

wisdom,  had  selected  it,  refusing  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  less  subtle  arrangements 
of  Philippe,  who  had  hired  a  little  rez-de- 
chauss^e,  in  the  lonely  Avenue  Kleber.  It  was  her 
opinion  that  a  woman  who  wished  to  keep  her 
affairs  to  herself  must  see  that  they  take  place 
in  the  very  heart  of  Paris,  in  some  respectable 
hotel  frequented  by  people  of  divers  races  and 
tongues.  She  hardly  ever  spent  more  than  two 
consecutive  months  in  Paris,  but  she  frequently 
met  Philippe  there,  and  in  far  greater  security 
than  she  could  have  done  in  the  provinces. 

As  she  sat  on  the  edge  of  the  bed,  the  soft  light  fell 
upon  her  fair  fluffy  hair,  the  milk-white  skin  of  her 
sloping  shoulders,  and  her  pretty  but  somewhat 
drooping  breast. 

"  I  am  sure  I  shall  be  late  again,"  she  said. 
"  Tell  me  the  time,  mon  petit,  and  don't  make  a 
mistake.    It's  really  important  !  " 

"  Why  do  you  always  call  me  '  mon  petit '  ?  Ten 
past  six,"  he  returned  in  a  surly  voice. 

"  Ten  past  six  ?  Are  you  quite  sure  ?  I  call 
you  '  mon  petit '  because  I  love  you.  What  would 
you  have  me  call  you  ?  " 

"  I  call  you  Clotilde,  you  might  occasionally  call 
me  Philippe." 

"  I  never  do  call  people  by  their  names." 

"  Oh,  well !  no  matter  !  "  he  said  bitterly.     "  I 


214  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

don't  presume  to  imagine  that  I  shall  change  your 
habits." 

She  picked  up  her  stockings  from  the  floor, 
stretching  her  back  like  a  cat  about  to  pounce 
upon  a  mouse. 

"  What  does  it  matter  ?  I  never  think  of  calling 
you  by  your  Christian  name,  as  I  do  my  husband, 
or  my  brother,  or  my  cousins." 

"  All  right  !  all  right  !  "  he  replied.  "  I  will 
conform  to  custom." 

"What  custom?" 

Jumping  up  with  her  stockings  in  her  hand,  she 
came  across  the  room  and  kissed  him  upon  the 
neck. 

Though  by  no  means  a  clever  man,  he  was 
suspicious,  and  an  idea  that  had  lately  struck  him 
was  worrying  him  ;  he  suspected  that  Madame  de 
Gromance  was  careful  to  avoid  making  use  of  his 
name,  or  of  the  name  of  any  other  lover,  for  fear 
of  getting  mixed  in  a  moment  of  supreme  excite- 
ment, for  she  was  a  sensitive  soul ! 

He  was  not  exactly  jealous,  but  he  had  a  certain 
amount  of  proper  pride.  Had  he  known  that 
Madame  de  Gromance  was  unfaithful  to  him,  his 
vanity  would  have  suffered.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  desire  he  had  for  the  pretty  creature  was 
proportionate  only  to  the  desire  he  believed  her 
to  inspire  in  others.     He  was  not  at  all  sure  that  it 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  215 

was  considered  necessary  to  be  the  lover  of  Madame 
de  Gromance,  or  of  any  other  society  woman ; 
many  of  his  intimate  friends  preferred  an  auto- 
mobile to  a  mistress.  He  liked  her  well  enough, 
and  had  no  objection  to  being  her  lover  so  long 
as  it  was  considered  the  thing,  but  if  it  was  not, 
he  could  not  see  why  he  should  persist  in  the 
matter.  The  deep  animal  instinct  in  him  and 
his  outlook  as  a  man  of  the  world  scarcely 
agreed,  and  he  was  not  clever  enough  to  conciliate 
such  conflicting  elements,  the  result  being  that 
there  was  an  imperfect,  indeterminate  tone  about 
his  remarks  that  rather  fascinated  Madame  de  Gro- 
mance, who  would  not  take  the  trouble  of  finding 
the  solution  and  making  things  clear.  If  it  came  to 
the  point,  his  charmer  would  say  to  him,  "Of  course 
I've  never  loved  any  man  but  you ! "  but  that  was  less 
in  the  hope  of  convincing  him  than  in  the  desire 
to  say  the  thing  most  fitting  the  occasion.  And 
at  such  moments  when  reflection  is  at  a  disadvantage 
the  tremendous  difl&culty  presented  by  belief  in 
such  a  statement  never  occurred  to  him.  Later, 
when  he  began  to  reason,  doubt  assailed  him. 

His  doubt  found  expression  in  cruel  and  sarcastic 
remarks,  and  he  practised  the  art  of  keeping  his 
mind  in  a  state  of  vague  unrest.  On  this  particular 
occasion  he  was  less  sulky  and  bitter  than  usual, 
and  hardly  even  jealous  or  mistrustful.    He  merely 


2i6  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

displayed    the    ill-humour    that    naturally    follows 
p-ratified  desire. 

o 

Madame  de  Gromance,  on  the  contrary,  was  quite 
prepared  for  the  blackest  fit  of  spite  and  unkind- 
ness,  for  on  that  very  day  her  strength,  combined 
with  her  weakness,  her  natural  inspiration  and 
deep  artifice  had  obtained  from  him  a  more 
liberal  display  of  affection  than  that  which  on 
principle  he  usually  vouchsafed.  She  had  led  him 
to  overstep  the  bounds  of  moderation,  a  thing  he 
did  not  easily  forgive,  for  he  was  solicitous  of  his 
health,  and  keen  on  keeping  in  condition  for 
exercise  and  sport.  Whenever  Madame  de  Gromance 
led  him  further  than  he  wished,  he  afterwards 
avenged  himself  by  unkind  words  and  a  still  more 
unkind  silence.  She  did  not  mind,  for  she  loved 
love,  and  experience  had  taught  her  that  all  men 
are  disagreeable  as  soon  as  they  get  what  they  want. 
So  she  calmly  awaited  the  reproaches  she  knew  she 
deserved.  She  was  disappointed  in  her  expectations, 
however,  for  a  remark  from  Philippe  showed  her 
that  his  mind  was  quiet  and  at  rest. 

"  My  shirtmaker  is  an  ass,"  he  said. 

He  carefully  dressed  himself  before  the  glass,  and 
turned  great  thoughts  over  and  over  in  his  mind. 
After  a  few  moments  of  silence  he  asked  in  quite  a 
pleasant  tone  : 

"  You  know  Loyer,  don't  you  ?  " 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  217 

Fresh-complexioned  and  slightly  flushed  with  her 
white  figure  thrown  into  relief  by  the  dark  velvet  of 
the  arm-chair,  she  was  sitting  buttoning  her  boots. 
As  she  sat  there,  with  her  head  and  neck  bent  over 
her  crossed  legs,  the  light  shone  upon  her  hair  and 
upon  the  bare  limbs  revealed  by  the  short  garment 
she  wore,  making  one  think  of  an  allegorical  figure 
from  some  painted  Venetian  ceiling.  This  resem- 
blance did  not,  however,  strike  Philippe.  He  re- 
peated his  question  : 

"  Do  you  know  Loyer  ?  " 

She  lifted  her  head,  dangling  the  buttonhook  from 
the  tips  of  her  fingers. 

"  Loyer,  the  Cabinet  Minister  ?  Yes,  I  know 
him." 

"  Do  you  know  him  well  ?  " 

"  Not  very  well,  but  I  do  know  him." 

The  man  under  discussion,  Loyer  the  senator, 
keeper  of  the  seals  and  Minister  of  Public  Worship, 
was  an  insignificant-looking  old  bachelor,  honest 
enough  outside  politics,  a  bit  of  a  lawyer,  and  a 
philosopher,  whose  hair  had  turned  grey  in  the 
enjoyment  of  clandestine  love  and  tavern  nights. 
As  he  had  not  made  his  entry  into  society  until 
somewhat  late  in  life,  the  women  he  met  there  were 
a  continual  source  of  wonder  to  him,  as  he  de- 
voured them  with  gold-spectacled  eyes. 

He  was  very  young  for  his  sixty  years,  and  had 


21 8  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

known  how  to  appreciate  Madame  de  Gromance  at 
her  true  value  when  he  had  first  met  her  in  the 
drawing-rooms  of  the  prefecture.  That  was  seven 
years  ago. 

Loyer  had  come  to  the  town  of  M.  Worms- 
Clavelin  to  unveil  a  statue  to  Joan  of  Arc,  and 
had  then  pronounced  the  memorable  speech  that 
terminated  magnificently  with  a  comparison 
between  the  Maid  and  Gambetta,  each  of  whom 
was  transfigured,  said  the  orator,  "  by  the  sub- 
lime light  of  patriotism."  The  Conservatives, 
who  already  were  secretly  siding  with  the  Radicals, 
because  of  their  financial  policy,  were  grateful  to 
the  minister  for  binding  them  anew  to  the  old 
regime  with  the  honourable  bonds  of  a  generous 
sentiment. 

M.  de  Gromance  had  offered  him  his  hand, 
saying:  "As  an  old  Royalist,  Monsieur  le  Ministre, 
I  thank  you  for  Jeanne  and  for  France  !  " 

When  Loyer  walked  that  evening  with  Madame  de 
Gromance  in  the  gardens  of  the  prefecture^  lighted 
up  by  hundreds  of  Chinese  lanterns,  fixed  to  the 
trees  —  trees  that  had  been  planted  in  1690  by 
the  Benedictines  of  Sille,  so  that  two  centuries 
later  Madame  Worms-Clavelin  might  enjoy  their 
shade  —  the  minister,  who  had  been  told  by  the 
Prefet  himself  that  the  "  old  Royalist "  was  the 
most  deluded  husband  in  the  Department,  whispered 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  219 

a  few  gallantries  into  the  young  woman's  pink  ear. 
He  was  a  Burgundian,  and  prided  himself  on  being 
a  daring  one  at  that.  Impressed  by  the  beauty  of 
the  historic  evening,  he  remarked  as  he  took  leave  of 
Madame  de  Gromance  that  the  illuminations  made 
him  inclined  to  dream.  Madame  de  Gromance  liked 
Loyer,  and  subsequently  begged  of  him  several 
little  favours  on  behalf  of  her  parish  and  district, 
which  the  old  fellow  granted,  demanding  nothing 
in  return,  quite  content  with  being  allowed  to 
pat  the  arms  and  shoulders  of  the  beautiful 
rallies  and  to  ask  in  a  jocular  manner  after  her 
"  Old  Royalist." 

She  could  therefore  quite  well  allow  that  she 
knew  Loyer,  who  was  in  the  Radical  Cabinet  as 
Minister  of  Public  Worship. 

"  I  know  Loyer  as  one  knows  a  person  who  does  not 
belong  to  the  same  set  as  oneself.    Why  do  you  ask  ? " 

"  Because  if  you  know  him  well  enough,  I  want 
you  to  ask  him  to  do  something  for  me." 

"  What  !  Do  you  want  to  bear  oft"  the  academic 
honours  like  M.  Bergeret  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Philippe  seriously.  "  It  is  something 
more  important.  I  want  you  to  speak  to  him 
about  Abbe  Guitrel." 

In  her  surprise  she  stood  up,  revealing  a  glimpse 
of  dazzling  flesh  above  her  stockings.  Astonishment 
gave  her  the  semblance  of  innocence. 


220  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  Why  ?  "  she  demanded. 

He  was  carefully  knotting  his  tie. 

"  I  want  Loyer  to  make  him  bishop." 

"  Bishop  !  " 

The  word  produced  abundant  and  definite  ideas 
in  the  mind  of  Madame  de  Gromance. 

For  years  and  years  she  had  seen  the  short,  fat 
figure,  mitre-crowned  and  covered  with  the  gold- 
embroidered  cope,  rubicund,  shapeless,  dignified,  of 
Monseigneur  Chariot,  officiating  on  fete-days  at 
the  cathedral.  She  had  often  dined  with  him,  and 
had  received  him  at  her  own  table.  In  common 
with  all  the  other  ladies  of  the  diocese,  she  admired 
the  clever  repartee  and  handsome  red-stockinged 
calves  of  the  cardinal-archbishop.  She  also  knew  a 
considerable  number  of  bishops,  all  of  whom  were 
worthy  men,  but  she  had  never  reflected  on  the 
influences  that  confer  episcopal  dignity  upon  a 
priest.  It  seemed  to  her  strange  that  a  kind- 
hearted  but  common  and  coarse-minded  man  like 
Loyer  should  have  the  power  to  create  a  prelate 
like  Monseigneur  Chariot. 

She  sat  there,  thoughtful,  looking  around  the 
room,  from  the  tumbled  bed  to  the  little  table, 
upon  which  were  placed  a  bottle  of  sherry  and 
some  biscuits ;  from  the  chair  on  which  she  had 
thrown  some  of  her  garments  to  the  untidy  dressing- 
table,  her   beautiful,  unintelligent   eyes  wandered. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  221 

seeing  nothing  but  lace  rochets,  crosiers,  crosses, 
and  amethyst  rings.  Feeling  absolutely  at  a  loss, 
she  inquired : 

"  Do  you  think  bishops  are  made  like  that  ?  '* 

"  Of  course,"  he  replied  with  assurance. 

"  And  so  you  think,  mon  -petit,  that  if  I  were  to 
ask  Loyer  to  make  Abbe  Guitrel  a  bishop " 

He  assured  her  that  Loyer,  who  was  an  old 
gallant,  would  not  refuse  that  to  a  pretty  woman. 

She  fixed  her  pink  silk  knickers  to  a  hook  on  her 
silk  stays.  Then,  as  he  pressed  for  a  reply,  and 
insisted  upon  her  going  immediately  to  sec  the 
minister,  she  grew  exceedingly  curious,  and  not 
a  little  suspicious. 

"  But,  mo7i  petit,  why  do  you  want  Abbe  Guitrel 
to  be  made  a  bishop  ?    Why  ?  " 

"  To  please  Mother.  And  because  I  like  the 
fellow;  he  is  intelligent  and  up  to  date  —  there 
aren't  so  many  like  him.  Yes,  he  really  is  ad- 
vanced and  in  the  Pope's  good  books  besides.  And 
Mother  would  be  so  delighted." 

"  Then  why  doesn't  she  go  herself  and  settle 
the  business  with  Loyer  ?  " 

"  In  the  first  place,  darling,  it  wouldn't  be  at 
all  the  same.  Besides,  my  parents  arc  not  in  very 
great  favour  with  this  Cabinet.  My  father,  as 
-President  of  the  Chambre  Syndicale  des  Metaux, 
has  been  protesting  against  the  new  tariffs.     You 


222  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

cannot  imagine  how  irritating  these  economic 
questions  can  be." 

But  she  knew  quite  well  that  he  was  deceiving 
her,  and  that  it  was  not  filial  love  that  made  him 
dabble  in  ecclesiastical  affairs. 

She  went  round  the  room  in  her  pink  knickers  of 
flowered  silk,  lithe,  agile,  and  pliable,  stooping  here 
and  there  over  the  scattered  garments,  searching 
for  her  petticoat. 

"  Mon  petit,  I  want  your  advice " 

"  What  about  ?  " 

After  spending  an  unconscionable  time  arranging 
his  tie  in  front  of  the  glass,  and  lighting  a  cigarette, 
he  complacently  sat  watching  her  as  she  flitted 
about  the  room  in  a  costume  that  exaggerated  so 
prettily  all  that  was  feminine  in  her  exceedingly 
feminine  body.  He  did  not  know  whether  to  think 
her  graceful  or  ridiculous.  He  did  not  know  whether 
he  ought  to  think  such  things  really  unbeautiful,  or 
whether  he  should  experience  some  slight  artistic 
pleasure  in  beholding  them.  His  doubt  arose  from 
the  recollection  of  a  long  discussion  which  had  taken 
place  the  winter  before  in  the  smoking-room  at  his 
father's  house,  between  two  old  gallants,  M.  de 
Terremondre,  who  could  think  of  nothing  more 
adorable  than  a  pretty  woman  in  her  knickers  and 
stays,  and  Paul  Flin,  who,  on  the  contrary,  pitied 
a   woman  for   her   ungraceful  appearance  at   this 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  223 

particular  stage  of  her  toilet.  Philippe  had  followed 
this  entertaining  discussion,  and  could  not  make 
up  his  mind  which  of  the  two  was  right.  Terre- 
mondre  was  a  man  of  experience,  but  he  was  old- 
fashioned  and  too  artistic.  Paul  Flin  was  considered 
less  clever,  but  very  smart.  Philippe's  natural 
malevolence  and  elective  affinities  were  making  him 
incline  to  the  latter's  theory  when  Madame  de 
Gromance  put  on  her  pink  silk  petticoat. 

"  Mon  -petit,  do  advise  me.  This  year  fur 
dresses  are  all  the  rage,  but  what  do  you  say  to 
a  red  cloth  dress — a  rich  red,  say  ruby — a  fur  coat 
and  fur  toque  with  a  bunch  of  Parma  violets  ?  " 

He  did  not  speak,  and  only  betrayed  his  thought 
by  a  nod  of  the  head.  At  last  he  opened  his  mouth, 
whence  issued,  instead  of  words,  the  smoke  of  his 
cigarette. 

Deep  in  her  dream  she  continued : 

"  With  buttons  of  old  paste,  very  narrow  sleeves 
and  a  tight  skirt." 

He  spoke  at  last : 

"A  tight  skirt —  yes,  that  would  be  all  right." 

Then  she  remembered  that  he  knew  nothing 
about  skirts  or  bodices.  An  idea  flashed  into  her 
mind  and  matured. 

"  It  is  funny  !  "  she  cried.  "  Only  the  men  who 
do  not  care  about  women  are  interested  in  women's 
dress.     And  the  men  who  like  them  never  notice 


224  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

what  they  wear.  Now  you,  for  instance.  I  am 
sure  you  could  not  tell  me  what  dress  I  had  on  last 
Saturday  at  your  mother's,  while  little  Suequet, 
whose  tastes,  as  everybody  knows,  are  different, 
talks  lingerie  and  chif^ons  quite  prettily.  He  is  a 
born  dressmaker  and  milliner,  that  boy  !  Tell  me, 
how  do  you  account  for  it  ?  " 

"  It  would  take  too  long." 

"  You  are  sitting  on  my  skirt,  mon  -petit. 
While  I  think  of  it,  Emmanuel  says  that  you 
are  neglecting  him.  Yesterday  he  expected  you 
to  come  and  see  a  horse  that  he  wants  to  buy, 
and  you  didn't  turn  up.  He's  awfully  an- 
noyed !  " 

At  these  words  Philippe  broke  into  a  torrent  of 
abuse. 

"  Your  husband  bores  me  to  tears.  He's  a 
grotesque  fool  —  and  the  most  awful  bore  !  You 
must  admit  yourself  that  pottering  about  all  day 
in  his  stables,  his  kennels,  and  his  kitchen  garden 

—  for   he   goes    in   for   gardening  too,  the  duffer 

—  looking  at  the  dogs'  food,  the  horses,  and 
such-like  isn't  what  you  might  call  exciting.  And 
then  when  one  comes  to  think  of  you  and  me, 
I  must  say  it  is  a  bit  thick  for  your  husband  to 
hang  on  to  me  as  he  does.  He's  such  a  fool  that 
he  makes  people  talk.  It's  perfectly  true,  I  tell 
you,  people  are  beginning  to  talk." 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  225 

She  answered  him  gently  and  seriously  while 
she  slipped  on  her  skirt. 

"  Don't  abuse  my  husband,  Philippe.  As  I  am 
obliged  to  have  a  husband  of  some  sort,  it  is  a 
very  good  thing  mine  is  like  he  is.  Just  think  for 
a  moment,  mon  petit,  we  might  have  somebody 
much  worse  to  deal  with." 

Philippe's  anger  would  not  be  calmed. 

"  And  he  loves  you,  the  beast  !  " 

She  made  a  little  grimace  and  shrugged  her 
shoulders,  as  if  to  imply  that  that  was  not  worth 
mentioning.  That  is  how  Philippe  chose  to  inter- 
pret it,  for  he  went  on  to  enlarge  upon  the  subject. 

"  As  far  as  that  goes,  anyone  can  see  at  a  glance 
that  he's  not  much  of  a  man  with  the  women,  but, 
even  then,  some  things  don't  bear  thinking  about." 

Madame  de  Gromance  turned  to  Philippe  a  beauti- 
ful look  full  of  happiness  and  peace,  a  look  that  coun- 
selled the  banishment  of  all  painful  thoughts,  and 
going  up  to  him  placed  full  upon  his  lips  a  kiss, 
magnificent  as  a  royal  scarlet  seal. 

"  Mind  my  cigarette,"  he  said. 

By  this  time  she  was  clothed  in  a  very  simple 
grey  dress,  and  was  arranging  her  toque  upon  her 
fluffy  hair.  Suddenly  she  broke  into  a  laugh,  and 
he  inquired  the  cause  of  her  amusement. 

"  Oh,  nothing  !  " 

Then,  as  he  persisted  in  his  inquiry : 


226  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"Well,  I  was  only  thinking  that  when  your  mother 
went  to  see  her  lover  —  years  ago,  you  know  —  she 
must  have  found  her  hair  a  terrible  nuisance, 
that  is  if  she  wore  it  as  it  is  in  that  portrait  you 
have  of  her  at  home." 

He  made  no  reply,  not  quite  knowing  how  to 
treat  a  joke  of  this  description,  which  inwardly 
shocked  him. 

"  You're  not  angry,  surely,"  she  went  on.  "  You 
do  love  me,  don't  you  ?  " 

No,  he  was  not  angry  ;  yes,  he  loved  her  ;  and 
she  returned  to  her  original  idea. 

"  It  is  strange,  you  know.  Sons  always  believe 
in  the  virtue  of  their  mothers  ;  daughters,  too,  but 
not  so  implicitly.  And  yet  the  fact  of  a  woman 
having  had  children  is  surely  not  sufficient  to 
prove  that  she  has  never  had  lovers." 

She   reflected   a    moment,    and   then    v\'ent    on : 

"  Things  are  complicated  in  this  world.  Good- 
bye, rnon  petit.  I  am  walking,  and  have  only  just 
time  to  get  there." 

"  Why  are  you  walking  ?  " 

"  Because  it  is  good  for  my  health,  and  then  it 
explains  my  not  having  the  carriage.  And  it's 
rather  fun." 

She  scrutinized  herself  in  the  looking-glass, 
first  three-quarter-ways,  then  sideways,  finally 
glancing  at  her  back  view. 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  227 

"  At  this  hour  of  the  day,  for  instance,  I  am  sure 
to  collect  a  good  number  of  followers." 

"  Why  ?  " 

"  Because  I  look  rather  nice." 

"  What  I  mean  is,  why  at  this  hour  specially  ?  " 

"  Because  it  is  evening.  The  streets  are  always 
full  just  before  dinner-time." 

"  But  who  follows  you  ?    What  sort  of  people  ?  " 

"  All  sorts.  Men  about  town,  workmen  and  priests. 
Yesterday  a  nigger  followed  me.  He  had  on  a  hat 
that  shone  like  a  mirror.     He  was  awfully  sweet." 

"  Did  he  speak  to  you  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes.  He  said  :  '  Madame,  will  you  go  for 
a  drive  with  me  ?  Or  are  you  afraid  of  losing  your 
reputation  ?  '  " 

"  What  a  silly  remark  !  " 

"  Some  of  them  say  much  sillier  things,"  she 
ansvvered  gravely.  "  Adieu,  mon  -petit,  we've  had 
a  lovely  time  to-day." 

Her  hand  was  already  on  the  key  of  the  door 
when  he  stopped  her. 

"  Clotilde,"  said  he,  "  promise  me  you  will  go 
and  see  Loyer,  and  that  you  will  say  to  him  very 
nicely,  '  M.  Loyer,  you  have  a  vacant  see  to  dispose 
of.  Make  Abbe  Guitrel  bishop,  you  cannot  do 
better.    The  Pope  thinks  very  highly  of  him.'  " 

She  shook  her  pretty  head. 

"  Go  and  see  Loyer  for  that  ?    Can  you  imagine 


228  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

me  in  the  cage  of  that  old  gorilla  ?  We  must 
make  some  special  arrangement,  meet  him  at  some 
friend's  house,  or  something  of  the  sort." 

"  But,"  objected  Philippe,  "  it's  very  important. 
At  any  moment  Loyer  may  sign  the  appointments 
now.     There  are  several  vacant  sees." 

She  reflected  a  moment,  and,  making  a  special 
effort  to  think  clearly,  said : 

"  You  must  be  mistaken,  mon  petit,^^  said  she. 
"  It's  not  Loyer  who  appoints  the  bishops.  It's 
the  Pope,  really  it  is,  or  the  Nuncio.  I  can  prove 
that,  for  the  other  day  Emmanuel  said,  '  The 
Nuncio  ought  to  overcome  the  modesty  of  M.  de 
Goulet,  and  offer  him  a  bishopric'    So  you  see." 

He  tried  to  convince  her  to  the  contrary,  taking 
the  trouble  to  explain  the  reason  why. 

"  Listen  to  me  !  The  minister  chooses  the 
bishops,  and  the  Nuncio  confirms  the  minister's 
choice.  That  is  what  is  called  the  Concordat. 
You  must  say  to  Loyer  :  '  I  know  of  an  intelligent 
liberal-minded  priest,  one  that  the  Pope  thinks 
of  very  highly' " 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  know  !  "  She  opened  wide  eyes  of 
wonder.  "  It's  an  extraordinary  thing  you  are  asking 
of  me,  mon  -petit !  " 

Her  amazement  came  from  the  fact  that  she 
was  religious,  and  had  the  greatest  veneration  for 
holy  things.    He  was  a  little  less  religious  than  she, 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  229 

but  perhaps  a  trifle  more  scrupulous,  and  in  his 
innermost  self  he  recognized  that  she  was  right, 
and  that  it  was  an  extraordinary  thing  to  ask  of 
her.  But  he  was  so  anxious  for  the  matter  to  be 
concluded  that  he  hastened  to  reassure  her. 

"  I  am  not  asking  you  to  do  anything  forbidden 
by  religion,"  he  protested. 

In  the  meanwhile  her  first  curiosity  had  returned. 

"  But  why  do  you  want  M.  Guitrel  to  be  chosen, 
mon  fetit  ?  "  she  asked. 

He  answered  confusedly,  as  he  had  done  before  : 

"  Mother  would  be  pleased,  and  other  people 
too." 

"  What  other  people  ?  " 

"  Oh,  heaps  of  them  —  the  Bonmonts." 

"  The  Bonmonts  ?    But  they  are  Jews  !  " 

"  That  doesn't  matter  ;  there  are  Jews  even 
among  the  clergy." 

Madame  de  Gromance  grew  more  suspicious  as 
soon  as  she  learned  that  the  Bonmonts  were  mixed 
up  in  the  singular  affair,  but  being  affectionate  and 
easily  led  she  promised  Philippe  she  would  do  as 
he  asked. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

L'ABBE  GUITREL,  candidate  for 
the  episcopacy,  was  ushered  into  the 
study  of  the  Nuncio,  Monseigneur 
Cima,  whose  appearance  at  first 
sight  came  as  a  surprise,  for  his  pale, 
large-featured  countenance,  on  which  the  years  had 
left  traces  of  fatigue,  showed  no  signs  of  age.  At 
forty,  he  looked  rather  like  a  sickly  youth,  and  when 
he  cast  down  his  eyes  his  face  was  as  the  face  of  a 
dead  man.  He  signed  to  the  visitor  to  be  seated, 
and,  assuming  his  usual  attitude,  leaned  back  in  his 
easy  chair,  and  prepared  to  listen  to  him.  With  his 
right  elbow  in  his  left  hand,  and  his  head  resting  in 
the  hollow  of  his  right  hand,  he  had  a  grace  that 
struck  one  as  vaguely  funereal,  and  called  to  mind 
certain  figures  on  ancient  bas-reliefs.  When  in 
repose  his  face  was  veiled  in  melancholy,  but  as 
soon  as  he  smiled  it  radiated  humour.  The  gaze 
of  his  beautiful  dark  eyes  gave  one  a  feeling  of 
discomfort ;  at  Naples  he  was  said  to  possess  the 
evil  eye  ;  in  France  he  passed  for  a  clever  politician. 
M.  I'Abbe  Guitrel  thought  it  advisable  to 
230 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  231 

make  only  a  passing  allusion  to  the  object  of  his 
visit. 

Mother  Church  in  her  wisdom  might  dispose 
of  him  as  she  judged  good.  All  his  feelings  of  love 
for  her  were  blended  in  an  entire  obedience  to  her 
will! 

"  Monseigneur,"  he  added,  "  I  am  a  priest,  in 
other  words  a  soldier,  and  I  aspire  to  the  glory  of 
obedience  !  " 

Slowly  bending  his  head,  as  a  sign  of  approbation, 
Monseigneur  Cima  asked  the  Abbe  if  he  had  been 
in  any  way  acquainted  with  M.  Duclou,  the  late 
Bishop  of  Tourcoing. 

"  I  knew  him  when  he  was  Cure  at  Orleans, 
Monseigneur." 

"  Orleans  ?  A  pleasant  town,  I  have  relations 
there,  distant  cousins  of  mine.  M.  Duclou  was 
very  old  when  he  died.  Do  you  know  what  caused 
his  death  ?  " 

"  Stone,  Monseigneur." 

*'  The  cause  of  the  death  of  many  old  men, 
although  science  has  discovered  many  things  to 
mitigate  this  terrible  malady." 

"  Yes,  indeed,  Monseigneur  !  " 

"  I  used  to  know  M.  Duclou  at  Rome  ;  he  often 
had  a  rubber  of  whist  with  me.  Have  you  ever 
been  to  Rome,  M.  Guitrel  ?  " 

"  Monseigneur,  that  is  a  joy  so  far  denied  me, 


232  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

but  I  have  long  sojourned  there  in  thought.  My 
spirit  has  outstripped  my  body  in  its  journey  to  the 
Vatican." 

"  Yes,  yes ;  the  Pope  would  be  very  pleased  to 
see  you.  He  likes  France  very  much.  The  best 
time  for  a  visit  to  Rome  is  during  the  spring,  for  in 
summer  malaria  is  rife  in  the  countryside,  and  in 
some  parts  of  the  city  even." 

"  I  do  not  fear  malaria." 

"  Of  course  not.  Besides,  provided  one  takes 
certain  precautions,  one  can  always  ward  off  fevers ; 
you  must  never  go  out  at  night  without  your  cloak, 
and  foreigners  especially  should  never  go  out  in  open 
vehicles  after  the  sun  has  set." 

"  I  have  heard,  Monseigneur,  that  the  Coliseum 
by  moonlight  is  a  truly  wonderful  sight." 

"  The  air  is  treacherous  in  that  district,  and  the 
gardens  of  the  Villa  Borghese  are  also  to  be  avoided 
for  the  same  reason." 

"  Really,  Monseigneur  ?  " 

"  Yes,  yes  !  I,  who  am  Roman-born,  cannot 
endure  the  climate  of  Rome.  I  prefer  to  go  to 
Brussels.  I  was  there  for  a  year  some  time  ago, 
and  can  think  of  no  town  that  I  like  better.  I  have 
relations  there.    Tourcoing,  is  that  a  large  town  ?  " 

"  About  40,000  inhabitants,  I  believe,  Mon- 
seigneur.    It  is  a  manufacturing  town." 

"  I   know  !    I   know  !    M.    Duclou   used   to   tell 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  233 

me  in  Rome  that  he  could  only  find  one  fault 
with  his  flock  :  they  drank  beer.  He  used  to  say- 
that  if  they  would  only  drink  the  light  wines  of 
Orleans  they  would  be  the  most  perfect  Christians 
in  the  world,  but  hops  made  them  melancholy." 

"  M.  Duclou  was  a  very  witty  man." 

"  He  disliked  beer,  and  once  I  surprised  him 
very  much  by  telling  him  that  it  was  quite  popular 
in  Italy  nowadays.  There  are  very  prosperous 
German  beer-houses  in  Florence,  Rome,  Naples, 
and  most  of  the  other  towns.  Do  you  like  beer, 
M.  Guitrel  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  dislike  it,  Monseigneur." 

The  Nuncio  gave  his  ring  to  the  priest,  who  kissed 
it  and  took  a  respectful  leave. 

The  Nuncio  rang  the  bell. 

"  Show  M.  Lantaigne  in." 

Having  kissed  the  ring,  the  director  of  the  Grand 
Seminaire  was  invited  to  sit  down  and  state  his 
business. 

He  said : 

"  Monseigneur,  I  have  sacrificed  to  the  Pope  and 
to  necessity  all  the  ties  that  bound  me  to  the  Royal 
House  of  France ;  I  have  trampled  down  the 
dearest  hopes  of  my  heart,  which  was  only  what  I 
owed  to  the  Father  of  the  Faithful  and  the  unity 
of  the  Church.  If  His  Holiness  raises  me  to  the 
see  of  Tourcoing,  I  will  rule  it  in  his  interest  and 


234  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

in  the  interest  of  France.  A  bishop  is  a  ruUng 
power,  and  I  can  answer  for  my  steadfastness  and 
devotion." 

Slowly  bending  his  head  as  a  sign  of  approbation, 
Monseigneur  Cima  asked  Abbe  Lantaigne  whether 
he  had  been  in  any  way  acquainted  with  M.  Duclou, 
the  late  Bishop  of  Tourcoing. 

"  I  only  knew  him  slightly,"  replied  M.  Lantaigne, 
"  and  long  before  his  elevation  to  the  bishopric.  I 
remember  having  lent  him  some  of  my  sermons  when 
I  had  more  of  them  than  I  knew  what  to  do  with." 

"  He  was  not  young  when  we  lost  him.  Do  you 
know  what  caused  his  death  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  know." 

"  I  knew  M.  Duclou  in  Rome  ;  he  often  used  to 
play  a  rubber  of  whist  with  me.  Have  you  ever 
been  to  Rome,  M.  Lantaigne  ?  " 

"  Never,  Monseigneur." 

"  You  should  go.  The  Pope  would  be  very 
pleased  to  see  you  ;  he  likes  France  very  much. 
But  you  must  be  careful  when  you  go  ;  the  climate 
of  Rome  is  bad  for  foreigners.  During  the  summer 
malaria  is  rife  in  the  countryside,  and  even  in  some 
parts  of  the  city.  The  best  season  to  visit  Rome  is 
the  spring.  I  was  born  in  Rome,  of  Roman  parents, 
and  I  much  prefer  Paris  or  Brussels.  Brussels  is  a 
very  pleasant  town.  I  have  relations  there.  Tell 
me,  Tourcoing,  is  it  a  very  large  town  ?  " 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  235 

"  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  sees  of  Northern  France, 
Monseigneur,  and  is  notorious  for  its  long  line  of 
saintly  bishops,  from  the  blessed  St.  Loup  to 
Monseigneur  de  la  Thrumelliere,  the  immediate 
predecessor  of  M.  Duclou." 

"  Tell  me,  what  are  the  people  of  Tourcoing 
like  ?  " 

"  They  are  good  Church  people,  Monseigneur, 
and  tend  more  to  the  Belgian  form  of  Catholicism 
than  to  the  French." 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  know.  M.  Duclou,  the  late 
lamented  Bishop  of  Tourcoing,  told  me  one  day 
in  Rome  that  he  had  only  one  fault  to  find  with  his 
flock  :  they  drank  beer.  He  used  to  say  that  if 
they  would  only  drink  the  light  wines  of  Orleans, 
they  would  be  the  most  perfect  Christians  in  the 
world,  but  the  juice  of  the  hop  filled  them  with  its 
melancholy  and  bitterness." 

"  Monseigneur,  allow  me  to  say  one  thing : 
Monseigneur  Duclou  was  both  weak  and  brainless. 
He  never  brought  out  the  energetic  qualities  of  the 
sturdy  northerners  under  his  care.  He  was  not  a 
bad  man,  but  his  dislike  of  evil  was  only  moderate. 
The  Catholic  town  of  Tourcoing  must  shine  out  on 
the  whole  of  the  Catholic  world.  Should  His 
Holiness  judge  me  worthy  to  fill  the  seat  of  the 
blessed  St.  Loup,  I  swear  in  ten  years'  time  to  have 
won  all  hearts  by  the  sacred  energy  of  good  works  ; 


236  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

to  have  stolen  back  all  the  souls  gone  over  to  the 
enemy  and  to  re-establish  around  me  the  oneness 
of  belief.  In  the  depths  of  her  innermost  soul, 
France  is  Christian,  and  only  needs  energetic 
leaders.  The  Church  is  dying  from  sheer 
inanition." 

Monseigneur  Cima  rose  from  his  chair,  and  held 
out    to  Abbe  Lantaigne  his   golden    ring,  saying: 

"  You  must  go  to  Rome,  M.  I'Abbe,  you  must 
go  to  Rome  !  " 


CHAPTER  XVII 

HE  drawing-room  of  the  house  in 
the  grey  Batignolles  quarter  was 
humble,  the  only  decorations  being 
copies  o£  the  engravings  in  the 
Louvre,  little  statues,  cups  and 
dishes  of  Sevres  china,  trivial-looking  ornaments, 
which  somehow  proclaimed  the  fact  that  the  lady 
of  the  house  was  connected  with  Government 
officials. 

Madame  Cheiral,  nee  Loyer,  was  the  sister  of 
the  Minister  of  Justice  and  Public  Worship.  She 
was  the  widow  of  a  commission-agent  in  the  Rue 
d'Hauteville,  who  had  died  without  leaving  a 
penny,  and  she  had  attached  herself  to  her  brother, 
partly  for  the  sake  of  a  home,  and  partly  out  of 
maternal  ambition.  She  ruled  the  old  bachelor, 
Vv'ho  ruled  the  country,  and  had  forced  him  to 
take  as  his  secretary-in-chief  her  son  Maurice,  who 
was  not  fitted  for  anything  in  particular,  and  was 
good  for  nothing  except  some  public  office. 

Uncle  Loyer  had  a  room  in  the  little  flat  of  the 
237 


238  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Avenue  de  Clichy,  where  he  came  to  stay  for  a 
while  every  spring,  at  which  season  he  was  subject 
to  attacks  of  giddiness  and  drowsiness,  for  he  was 
getting  old.  As  soon,  however,  as  his  head  felt 
better  and  his  tread  became  more  assured,  he 
returned  to  the  attic-room,  where  he  had  lived  for 
half  a  century,  a  room  where  he  had  twice  been 
arrested  by  the  agents  of  the  Empire,  and  from 
which  he  could  see  the  trees  of  the  Luxembourg. 
He  still  kept  the  pipe  of  Jules  Grevy  in  this  garret 
of  his. 

This  pipe  was  perhaps  the  most  treasured  posses- 
sion of  the  old  fellow,  who  had  gone  through 
many  phases  as  a  Member  of  Parliament :  the  days 
of  eloquence  and  the  days  of  affairs.  He  had  con- 
trolled as  Minister  of  the  Interior  the  secret  funds 
of  three  budgets.  He  had  bought  many  a  conscience 
for  his  party,  a  corrupter  of  others,  but  incorruptible 
himself.  He  had  always  had  an  infinite  indulgence 
for  the  hypocrisies  of  his  friends,  but  was  jealous 
himself  of  retaining  in  the  midst  of  his  power  the 
vantage-ground  of  a  simulated  poverty  that  was  at 
once  cynical,  obstinate,  deep-rooted,  and  honour- 
able. 

His  eye  was  dim  now  and  his  mind  inactive,  but 
in  the  intervals,  when  his  old  skill  and  decisive  spirit 
returned  to  him,  he  applied  all  his  remaining  vigour 
to  concentrated  thought,  and  the  game  of  billiards. 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  239 

Madame  Cheiral,  whose  intelligence  was  limited  and 
whose  skill  but  moderate,  did  what  she  liked  with 
the  cunning,  quiet,  silent,  and  coarse-minded  old 
man,  who  for  the  sixth  time  in  his  career  had  been 
selected  as  a  member  o£  the  cabinet  that  had 
followed  upon  the  heels  of  the  clerical  cabinet, 
and  who  saw  his  nephew  fulfilling  the  indefinite 
duties  of  secretary-in-chief  without  an  idea  of 
leadership,  nor  a  glimmer  of  moral  principle.  No 
doubt,  Loyer  was  somewhat  surprised  to  find  that 
his  nephew  had  reactionary  and  clerical  tendencies, 
but  he  was  too  much  inclined  to  apoplexy  to  run 
the  risk  of  thwarting  his  sister. 

Madame  Cheiral  was  staying  at  home  that  day,  and 
when  Madame  Worms-Clavelin  called  to  see  her 
somewhat  late  in  the  afternoon,  when  no  further 
callers  were  expected,  she  received  her  very  cor- 
dially. They  wished  each  other  good-bye,  for  the 
prefers  wife  was  returning  home  on  the  morrow. 

"  Going  already,  darling  ?  " 

"  I  must,"  replied  Madame  Worms-Clavehn 
sweetly,  looking  quite  innocent  in  her  black  feather- 
trimmed  hat. 

She  always  affected  this  hat  when  paying  calls, 
likening  herself  to  a  plume-bedecked  horse  attached 
to  a  funeral  car. 

"  You  must  stay  and  dine  with  us,  dear  ;  we  so 
seldom  see  you  in  Paris.     We  shall  be  quite  alone. 


240  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

I  don't  think  my  brother  will  be  here.  He  is  so 
busy  and  engrossed  in  his  work  just  now  !  But 
perhaps  Maurice  will  be  with  us ;  the  young  men 
of  to-day  are  much  steadier  than  they  used  to  be. 
Maurice  often  spends  an  evening  at  home  with  me." 

She  began  to  try  to  prevail  upon  Madame  Worms- 
Clavelin  with  all  the  persuasive  eloquence  of  a 
sociable  soul. 

"  We  shall  be  quite  among  ourselves.  Your 
dress  will  do  very  nicely.  I  assure  you  we  shall  be 
absolutely  en  famille.'^^ 

Now  Madame  Worms-Clavelin  had  obtained  from 
the  Minister  of  the  Interior  the  Cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honour  for  her  husband ;  she  had 
exacted  from  the  Minister  of  Instruction  and 
Public  Worship  a  promise  that  the  name  of  M. 
Guitrel,  as  candidate  for  the  bishopric  of  Tourcoing, 
should  be  on  the  list  of  candidates  selected  for  the 
six  vacant  sees,  so  there  was  nothing  to  keep  her 
any  longer  in  Paris.  She  had  intended  to  return 
home  that  very  evening. 

She  excused  herself,  saying  that  she  had  "  so 
many  things  to  see  to,"  but  Madame  Cheiral  in- 
sisted ;  then,  as  Madame  Worms-Clavelin  persisted 
in  her  refusal,  she  showed  her  displeasure  by 
tightened  lips  and  acid  tones,  so  Madame 
Worms-Clavelin,  who  had  no  wish  to  annoy  her, 
gave   in. 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  241 

"  That's  right  ;  and,  as  I  said  before,  we  shall 
be  quite  by  ourselves." 

They  were  by  themselves,  for  Loyer  never  came, 
and  Maurice,  who  was  expected,  did  not  turn  up 
either.  But  in  their  place  came  a  lady  tobacconist* 
and  a  well-known  elementary  school  teacher.  The 
conversation  was  deep  and  serious.  Madame 
Cheiral,  who  really  was  only  interested  in  her  own 
affairs,  and  who  had  no  spite  against  anyone  except 
her  dearest  friends,  uicked  out  the  men  whom  she 
thought  worthy  of  the  Senate,  the  Chamber,  and 
the  Institute,  not  that  she  cared  about  politics, 
science,  or  literature,  but  because  she  thought 
it  her  duty,  as  the  sister  of  a  Cabinet  Minister, 
to  hold  opinions  on  everything  that  contributed 
to  the  moral  and  intellectual  greatness  of  her 
country. 

Madame  Worms-Clavelin  listened  to  her  with 
charming  deference,  always  retaining  the  same  air 
of  innocence  that  she  reserved  for  people  who 
bored  her.  When  in  society  she  had  a  way  of 
looking  down  which  gave  old  gentlemen  a  thrill, 
and  which  to-day  excited  the  admiration  of  the 
hoary-headed  instructor  of  grammar  and  gymnastics, 
who  endeavoured  to  press  her  foot  with  his  own 

*  The  sale  of  tobacco  in  France  is  controlled  by  the  State,  and 
given  to  the  widows  and  daughters  of  Government  officials,  military 
and  naval  officers,  etc. 


242  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

under  the  table.  However,  she  had  made  up  her 
mind  to  return  by  train  from  the  Avenue  de 
CHchy  to  the  Arc-de-Triomphe,  where,  among  the 
radiating  avenues  that  look  like  an  enormous  cross 
o£  honour,  her  boarding  house  was  situated.  But 
when  she  returned  to  the  drawing-room  on  the 
arm  of  the  old  gentleman  who  had  rendered  such 
signal  services  to  elementary  instruction  she  found 
Maurice  Cheiral,  who  had  been  detained  at  the 
ministry,  and  who,  after  dining  at  a  restaurant, 
had  returned  home  to  dress,  prior  to  spending  the 
evening  at  a  theatre. 

He  examined  Madame  Worms-Clavelin  with 
interest,  and  sat  down  beside  her  on  the  comfort- 
able old  couch  that  stood  under  a  great  Sevres  dish 
decorated  in  neo-Chinese  style,  and  suspended  on 
the  wall  in  a  blue  plush  frame. 

"  Madame  Clavelin  !  "^'ou  are  the  very  person 
I  wanted  to  see  !  " 

In  her  younger  days  Madame  Worms-Clavelin 
had  been  thin  and  dark,  and  in  such  guise  had  not 
been  unattractive  to  men.  As  time  went  on  she 
became  fat  and  fair,  and  in  this  guise  she  was 
again  not  unattractive  to  men. 

"  Did  you  see  my  uncle  yesterday  ?  " 

"  Yes.  He  was  so  sweet  to  me.  How  is  he  to- 
day ?  " 

"  Tired,  very  tired.     He  gave  me  the  papers." 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  243 

"  What  papers  ?  " 

"  The  papers  referring  to  the  candidatures  for 
the  six  vacant  sees.  You  are  very  anxious  for  Abbe 
Guitrel  to  be  elected,  are  you  not  ?  " 

"  My  husband  is  anxious.  Your  uncle  told  me 
that  the  thing  was  settled." 

"  My  uncle ;  you  should  not  take  any  notice  of 
what  he  says  —  he  is  a  Minister  and  cannot  know. 
People  are  always  fooling  him,  and  then  he  often  says 
what  he  does  not  mean.  Why  didn't  you  come  to 
me  ?  " 

With  charming  modesty  Madame  Worms-Clave- 
lin  replied  in  a  low  voice : 

"  Well,  I  do  come  to  you  !  " 

"  And  you  are  wise  to  do  so,"  replied  the  secretary- 
in-chief.  "  All  the  more  so  because  the  business  is 
not  going  on  as  you  wish,  and  it  depends  upon  me 
whether  it  proceeds  or  not.  My  uncle  told  you,  no 
doubt,  that  he  was  going  to  present  the  six  applica- 
tions to  the  Pope  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Well,  they  have  already  been  presented.  I 
know  that,  for  I  sent  them.  I  take  a  special  interest 
in  Church  matters.  My  uncle  is  one  of  the  old 
school ;  he  does  not  understand  the  importance 
of  religion,  while  I  realize  it  thoroughly.  Now 
this  is  how  things  stand  :  the  six  candidates  have 
been  presented  to  the  Pope,  and  the  Holy  Father 


244  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

has  only  accepted  four.  As  far  as  the  other  two 
are  concerned,  that  is  M.  Guitrel  and  M.  Morrue, 
he  does  not  absolutely  reject  them,  but  he  says  he 
has  not  yet  sufficient  information  concerning  them." 
Maurice  Cheiral  shook  his  head  gravely.  "  He 
has  not  sufficient  information  !  And  when  he 
gets  more  I  do  not  know  what  he  will  say.  Between 
ourselves,  dear  lady,  Guitrel  looks  to  me  a  bit  of  a 
rogue,  and  we  cannot  be  too  careful  in  choosing 
our  bishops.  The  clergy  is  a  force  upon  which  a 
prudent  Government  should  be  able  to  rely ;  we 
are  just  beginning  to  realize  that." 

"  You  are  quite  right,"  said  Madame  Clavelin. 

"  On  the  other  hand,"  went  on  the  secretary-in- 
chief,  "  your  candidate  seems  learned,  well  read, 
and  open-minded." 

"  Well  ?  "  asked  Madame  Worms-Clavelin,  with  a 
delightful  smile. 

"  It  is  difficult  !  "  replied  Cheiral. 

Cheiral  was  not  a  very  clever  man.  He  took  few 
things  into  consideration,  and  always  acted  on  reasons 
so  futile  that  they  were  difficult  to  unravel.  And  so 
it  was  thought,  that,  being  still  young,  he  was  swayed 
by  personal  motives.  At  the  present  time  he  had  just 
finished  reading  a  book  by  M.  Imbert  de  Saint- Amand 
on  the  Tuileries  during  the  second  Empire  ;  the 
splendour  of  the  brilliant  court  had  particularly 
taken  his  fancy,  and  the  book  had  fired  him  with 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  245 

the  desire  to  live,  like  the  Due  de  Morny,  a  life 
in  which  politics  should  be  combined  with  pleasure 
and  power  of  every  description.  He  looked  at 
Madame  Worms-Clavelin  in  a  manner  the  signifi- 
cance of  which  she  thoroughly  comprehended  as 
she  sat  there  silent  with  lowered  gaze. 

"  My  uncle,"  went  on  Cheiral,  "  gives  me  a  free 
hand  in  this  matter,  which  does  not  interest  him 
at  all.  I  can  set  about  it  in  two  ways.  I  can  propose 
without  further  delay  the  four  candidates  accepted 
by  the  Holy  Father,  or  I  can  tell  the  Nuncio 
that  things  will  remain  at  a  standstill  until  the 
Holy  See  has  approved  of  six  candidates.  I  have 
not  yet  made  up  my  mind,  but  should  be  delighted 
to  talk  the  matter  over  with  you.  Shall  I  expect 
you  to-morrow  afternoon  at  five  o'clock,  and  wait 
for  you  in  a  closed  carriage  at  the  end  of  the  Rue 
Vigny  by  the  gates  of  the  Park  Monceau  ?  " 

"  There's  not  much  risk  in  that,"  thought 
Madame  Worms-Clavelin,  her  only  reply  a  slight 
quivering  of  her  downcast  lids. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

SADAME  DE    BONMONT  had  no 

difficulty  in  bringing  Raoul  Marcien 

and    M.   I'Abbe   Guitrel    together 

at    her    house.     The   meeting  was 

all   that   could   be   desired,  for  on 

his  part  M.  I'Abbe  Guitrel  was  full  of  unction, 

and  Raoul,  being  a  society  man,  knew  what  was 

due  to  the  Church. 

"  Monsieur   I'Abbe,"    he    said,    "  I    come    of   a 

family  of  priests  and  soldiers.    I  have  been  a  soldier 

myself,  and  that  means " 

He  did  not  finish  his  sentence,  for  M.  Guitrel 

held  out  his  hand  with  a  smile,  saying : 

"  We  may  call  it  the  alliance  of  the  sword  and 

the   aspersorium."      Then    immediately  resuming 

his  priestly  gravity  :   "  And  that  is  the  most  natural 

and  the  best  of  all  alliances.    We  priests  are  soldiers 

too,  and  as  far  as  I  am  concerned  I  am  very  fond 

of  the  army." 

Madame  de  Bonmont  gazed  with   sympathetic 

eyes  at  the  Abbe,  who  continued  : 

246 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  247 

"  In  the  diocese  to  which  I  belong  we  have 
started  clubs,  Avhere  the  soldiers  can  read  good 
books  as  they  smoke  their  cigars.  The  work 
is  under  the  patronage  of  Monseigneur  Chariot, 
and  is  both  flourishing  and  useful.  Let  us  not  be 
unjust  toward  the  age  in  which  we  live  ;  if  it 
contains  much  evil  it  also  holds  much  that  is  good. 
We  are  engaged  in  a  great  fight,  and  that  is,  perhaps, 
to  be  preferred  to  the  lukewarm  state  of  those  whom 
a  great  Christian  poet  has  described  as  being  shut 
out  from  both  Heaven  and  Hell." 

Raoul  approved  of  this  speech,  but  ventured  no 
reply.  He  did  not  answer,  by  virtue  of  the  fact 
that  he  had  few  ideas  upon  the  subject,  and  also 
because  his  whole  mind  was  absorbed  in  the  thought 
of  the  three  charges  of  cheating  brought  against 
him  during  the  past  week,  which  made  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  follow  any  abstract  or  general 
train  of  ideas. 

Madame  de  Bonmont  but  dimly  divined  the  real 
reason  of  his  silence,  and  M.  Guitrel  did  not  under- 
stand it  at  all.  With  an  honest  desire  to  do  the 
right  thing,  and  keep  the  ball  of  conversation  going, 
he  asked  M.  Marcien  if  he  knew  Colonel  Gandouin. 

"  He  is  an  excellent  man  in  every  way,"  added 
the  priest.  "  A  fine  example  of  the  Christian  and 
the  soldier.  He  is  respected  by  every  right-thinking 
man  in  our  diocese." 


248  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

"  Do  I  know  Colonel  Gandouin  !  "  cried  Raoul. 
"  I  know  him  only  too  well.  I've  had  enough  of 
him  !     I  can't  bear  the  man  !  " 

This  outburst  grieved  Madame  de  Bonmont  and 
startled  M.  Guitrel.  Neither  of  them  knew  that 
four  years  before  Colonel  Gandouin,  with  six 
other  officers,  had  ordered  Captain  Marcien  to 
be  placed  on  half-pay  for  habitual  dereliction  of 
duty,  that  offence,  selected  from  many  others, 
being  the  reason  assigned. 

From  this  moment  the  gentle  Elizabeth  gave 
up  hoping  that  any  good  would  come  of  the  inter- 
view which  she  had  arranged  to  calm  her  Raoul, 
to  turn  him  away  from  thoughts  of  violence  and 
bring  him  back  to  thoughts  of  love.  She  opened 
her  heart,  however,  and  in  a  tearful  voice  said  to 
the  Abbe : 

"  Don't  you  think,  M.  I'Abbc,  that  when  a 
man  is  young  and  has  a  fine  future  before  him,  he 
ought  not  to  give  way  to  discouragement  and  de- 
pression ?  Ought  he  not,  on  the  contrary,  to  avoid 
all  sad  thoughts  ?  " 

"  Certainly,  Madame  la  Baronne,  certainly,"  re- 
plied M.  I'Abbe  Guitrel.  "  We  must  never  give 
way  to  discouragement,  or  abandon  ourselves  to 
grief  without  cause.  A  good  Christian  never  en- 
courages gloomy  thoughts,  Madame  la  Baronne, 
that  is  quite  certain." 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  249 

"  Do  you  hear,  M.  Marcien  ?  "  asked  Madame  de 
Bonmont. 

But  Raoul  did  not  hear,  and  so  the  conversation 
dropped.  Then  Madame  de  Bonmont,  being  a  kind- 
hearted  woman,  and  anxious  in  the  midst  of  her 
own  w^orries  to  give  a  Httle  pleasure  to  M.  Guitrel, 
turned  the  topic  of  conversation. 

"  And  so,  M.  I'Abbe,"  she  said,  "  your  favourite 
stone  is  the  amethyst." 

Guessing  the  drift  of  her  remark,  the  priest 
answered  severely  and  even  harshly  : 

"  Do  not  speak  of  that,  Madame,  I  beg.  Do 
not  speak  of  that  !  " 


^ 


CHAPTER  XIX 

AVING    risen    early    one    morning, 

M.    Bergeret,    Professor    of    Latin 

literature,  went  for  a  walk  into  the 

country  with  Riquet.   The  two  loved 

each  other  dearly,  and  were  nearly 

always  together.      They  had   the  same  tastes,  and 

both    preferred   a    quiet,   uneventful,   and    simple 

hfe. 

Riquet's  eyes  always  followed  his  master  closely 

on  these  walks.     He  was  afraid  to  let  him  out  of 

his   sight   one   instant,   because   he   was   not   very 

sharp-scented,  and,  had  he  lost  his  master,  could 

not  have  tracked  him  again.     His  beautiful,  loving 

look  was  very  engaging  as  he  trotted  by  the  side 

of  M.  Bergeret  with  an  important  air  quite  pretty 

to  see.     The  Professor  of  Latin  literature  walked 

slowly   or   quickly  according   to  the   trend   of    his 

capricious  fancy. 

As  soon  as  Riquet  was  a  stone's  throw  ahead  of 

his  master,  he  turned  round  and  waited  for  him 

with  his  nose  in  the  air,  and  one  of  his  front  paws 

250 


THE  AiMETHYST  RING  251 

lifted  in  an  attitude  of  attention  and  watchfulness. 
It  did  not  take  much  to  amuse  either  of  them. 
Riquet  plunged  into  gardens  and  shops  alike, 
coming  out  again  as  hastily  as  he  had  entered. 
On  this  particular  day  he  bounded  into  the  coal- 
seller's  office,  to  find  himself  confronted  by  a 
huge  snow-white  pigeon  that  flapped  its  wings  in 
the  darkness,  to  his  extreme  terror. 

He  came  as  usual  to  relate  his  adventure,  with 
eyes  and  paws  and  tail,  to  M.  Bergeret,  who  said 
jokingly : 

"  Yes,  indeed,  my  poor  Riquet,  we  have  had  a 
terrible  encounter,  and  have  escaped  the  claws  and 
beak  of  a  winged  monster.  That  pigeon  was  an 
awe-inspiring  creature  !  " 

And  M.  Bergeret  smiled.  Riquet  knew  that 
smile,  and  knew  that  his  master  was  making  fun  of 
him.  This  was  a  thing  he  could  not  bear.  He 
stopped  wagging  his  tail,  and  walked  with  hanging 
head,  hunched-up  back,  and  legs  wide  apart,  as  a 
sign  of  annoyance. 

"  My  poor  Riquet,"  said  M.  Bergeret  to  him 
again,  "  that  bird,  which  your  ancestors  would 
have  eaten  alive,  alarms  you.  You  are  not  hungry, 
as  they  would  have  been,  and  you  are  not  as  brave 
as  they  were  ;  the  refinement  of  culture  has  made 
a  coward  of  you.  It  is  questionable  whether 
civilization    docs    not    tend    to    make    men    less 


252  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

courageous  as  well  as  less  fierce.  But  civilized  man, 
out  of  respect  for  his  species,  affects  courage  and 
makes  of  it  an  artificial  virtue  far  more  beautiful 
than  the  natural  one.  While,  as  for  you,  you 
shamelessly  display  your  fear." 

Riquet's  annoyance,  to  tell  the  truth,  was  but 
slight,  and  only  lasted  a  few  minutes.  All  was 
forgiven  and  forgotten  when  the  man  and  the  dog 
entered  the  Josde  woods  just  at  the  hour  when  the 
grass  is  wet  with  dew  and  light  mists  rise  from  the 
hills. 

M.  Bergeret  loved  the  woods,  and  at  sight  of  a 
blade  of  grass  would  lose  himself  in  boundless 
reveries.  Riquet,  too,  loved  the  woods.  As  he 
sniffed  at  the  dead  leaves  his  soul  was  filled  with 
strange  delight.  In  deep  meditation,  therefore, 
they  followed  the  pathway  leading  to  the  Carre- 
four  des  Demoiselles,  when  they  met  a  horseman 
returning  to  the  town.  It  was  M.  de  Terremondre, 
the  county  councillor. 

"  Good  day,  M.  Bergeret,"  he  cried,  reining  in 
his  horse.  "  Well !  Have  you  thought  over  my 
arguments  of  yesterday  ?  " 

He  had  explained  the  evening  before  at  Paillot's 
the  reason  why  he  was  against  the  Jews. 

When  in  the  country,  especially  during  the 
hunting  season,  M.  de  Terremondre's  proclivities 
were  anti-Jewish.     When  in  Paris  he  dined  with 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  253 

rich  Jews,  whom  he  tolerated  to  the  extent  of  in- 
ducing them  to  buy  pictures  at  a  proht  to  himself. 
At  County  Council  meetings,  with  due  considera- 
tion to  the  feelings  that  were  paramount  in  his 
county  town,  he  was  a  Nationalist  and  an  Anti- 
Semite.  But  as  there  were  no  Jews  in  that  town 
the  anti-Jewish  crusade  consisted  principally  in 
attacks  upon  the  Protestants,  who  formed  a  small, 
austere,  and  exclusive  community  of  their 
own. 

"  So  we  are  enemies,"  went  on  M.  de  Terre- 
mondre.  "  I  am  sorry  for  that,  because  you  are  a 
clever  man,  but  you  live  quite  outside  the  social 
movement,  and  are  not  mixed  up  in  public  life. 
If  you  did  as  I  do,  and  entered  into  it,  your  sym- 
pathies would  be  anti-Jewish." 

"  You  flatter  me,"  said  M.  Bergeret.  "  The 
Jewish  race  which  peopled  Chaldea,  Assyria,  and 
Phoenicia  in  former  times,  and  which  founded  cities 
all  along  the  Mediterranean  coast,  is  composed  to- 
day of  Jews  scattered  the  world  over,  and  also  of 
the  countless  Arab  populations  of  Asia  and  Africa. 
My  heart  is  not  great  enough  to  contain  so  many 
hatreds.  Old  Cadmus  was  a  Jew,  but  I  really 
couldn't  be  the  enemy  of  old  Cadmus  !  " 

"  You  are  joking,"  replied  M.  de  Terremondre, 
holding  in  his  horse,  who  was  nibbling  at  the 
bushes.      "  You   know   as   well   as    I    do   that   the 


254  '^HE   AMETHYST  RING 

anti-Jewish  movement  is  directed  solely  against 
the  Jews  who  have  settled  in  France." 

"  Therefore  I  must  hate  80,000  persons,"  said 
M.  Bergeret.  "  That  is  still  too  many ;  I  have  not 
the  strength  for  it  !  " 

"  No  one  asks  you  to  hate  them,"  said  M.  de 
Terremondre.  "  But  Jews  and  Frenchmen  cannot 
live  together.  The  antagonism  is  ineradicable,  it 
is  in  the  blood." 

"  I  believe,  on  the  contrary,"  said  M.  Bergeret, 
"  that  the  Jews  are  particularly  assimilable,  and 
have  the  most  plastic  and  malleable  natures  in  the 
world.  With  the  same  readiness  that  the  niece  of 
Mardocheus  entered  the  harem  of  Ahasuerus  in 
bygone  days,  so  the  daughters  of  our  Jewish  financiers 
marry  nowadays  the  heirs  to  the  greatest  names 
in  Christian  France.  After  marriages  such  as  these 
it  is  rather  late  in  the  day  to  speak  of  incompati- 
bility of  race.  Then,  I  think  it  a  bad  thing  to  make 
a  distinction  of  race  in  any  country  ;  it  is  not  the 
race  that  makes  the  nation,  and  there  is  not  a 
single  country  in  Europe  that  has  not  been  founded 
on  a  multitude  of  mixed  and  different  races. 
When  Caesar  entered  Gaul  it  was  peopled  by  Celts, 
Gauls,  Iberians,  all  differing  in  origin  and  religion. 
The  tribes  that  set  up  the  cromlechs  were  not  of 
the  same  blood  as  those  who  honoured  bards  and 
druids.      Into   this   human   mixture   the   different 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  255 

invasions  poured  Germans,  Romans,  Saracens,  and 
out  of  the  whole  a  nation  arose,  the  brave  and 
lovable  people  of  France,  who,  not  so  very  long 
ago,  were  the  teachers  of  justice,  liberty,  and 
philosophy  to  the  entire  world.  Think  of  the 
beautiful  words  of  Renan ;  I  wish  I  could  re- 
member them  exactly :  'What  makes  a  nation  is 
the  memory  of  the  great  things  its  people  have 
done  together,  and  the  will  they  have  to  accomplish 
others.'  " 

"  Excellent !  "  said  M.  de  Terremondre.  "  But 
as  I  have  not  the  will  to  accomplish  great  things 
with  the  Jews,  I  remain  an  Anti-Semite." 

"  Are  you  quite  sure  that  it  is  possible  for  your 
feelings  to  be  wholly  anti-Jewish  ?  "  asked  M. 
Bergeret. 

"  I    do    not    understand    you,"    replied    M.    de    . 
Terremondre. 

"  Then  I  will  explain  myself,"  said  M.  Bergeret. 
"  There  is  one  fact  that  never  varies  :  each  time 
there  is  an  attack  on  the  Jews,  a  goodly  number  of 
them  side  with  the  enemy.  That  is  just  what 
happened  to  Titus." 

At  this  point  in  the  conversation  Riquet  sat 
down  in  the  middle  of  the  road  and  looked  resignedly 
at  his  master. 

"  You  will  agree,"  went  on  M.  Bergeret,  "  that 
between  the  years  67  and  70  a.d.  Titus  was  a  strong 


256  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Anti-Semite.  He  took  Jotapate,  and  exterminated 
its  inhabitants.  He  conquered  Jerusalem,  burned 
the  Temple,  and  reduced  to  ashes  and  ruins  the 
city  which  afterwards  received  the  name  of  CElia 
Capitolina.  The  seven-branched  candlestick  was 
carried  in  his  triumphal  procession  to  Rome,  and, 
I  think,  without  doing  you  an  injustice,  I  may  say 
that  that  was  Anti-Semitism  carried  to  a  degree 
which  you  people  can  never  hope  to  attain.  Well  ! 
Titus,  the  destroyer  of  Jerusalem,  had  many 
friends  among  the  Jews.  Berenice  was  deeply 
attached  to  him,  and  you  know  as  well  as  I  do  that 
it  was  against  his  will  and  against  hers  that  he  left 
her.  Flavins  Josephus  was  his  friend,  and  Flavins 
was  not  one  of  the  least  of  his  nation.  He  was 
descended  from  the  Asmonean  kings,  lived  the 
life  of  a  strict  Pharisee,  and  wrote  Greek  correctly 
enough.  After  the  demolition  of  the  temple  and 
holy  city  he  followed  Titus  to  Rome,  and  became 
the  intimate  friend  of  the  Emperor.  He  received 
the  freedom  of  the  city,  the  title  of  Roman  Knight, 
and  a  pension.  And  do  not  imagine,  monsieur, 
that  in  so  doing  he  was  betraying  his  race.  On  the 
contrary,  he  remained  faithful  to  the  law,  and 
appHed  himself  to  the  collection  of  national 
antiquities.  In  short,  he  was  a  good  Jew  in  his 
own  way  and  a  friend  of  Titus.  Now  there  have 
always  been  men  like  Flavins  in  Israel.     As  you 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  257 

pointed  out,  I  live  a  secluded  life  and  know  nothing 
of  what  goes  on  in  the  world,  but  it  would  be  a 
great  surprise  to  me  if  at  the  present  crisis  the 
Jews  were  not  divided  amongst  themselves,  and 
if  a  great  number  of  them  were  not  on  your 
side." 

"  Some  of  them  are  with  us,  as  you  say,"  replied 
M.  de  Terremondre.  "All  the  more  credit  to 
them." 

"  I  thought  as  much,"  said  M.  Bergeret.  "  And, 
what  is  more,  I  am  sure  that  there  are  some  clever 
ones  among  them  who  will  make  their  mark  in 
this  crusade  against  themselves.  About  thirty 
years  ago  a  senator,  a  very  clever  man,  who  admired 
the  Jewish  faculty  for  getting  on,  and  who  cited  as 
an  example  a  certain  court  chaplain  of  Jewish 
origin,  used  the  following  words,  which  have  since 
been  much  quoted.  '  See,'  said  he,  '  here  is  a  Jew 
who  has  gone  into  the  Church,  and  now  he  is  a 
Monseigneur.  Let  us  not  revive  the  prejudices  of 
barbaric  times.  Let  us  not  ask  if  a  man  is  a  Jew 
or  Christian,  but  only  if  he  is  an  honest  man  and 
capable  of  serving  his  country.'  " 

M.  de  Terremondre's  horse  began  to  plunge, 
and  Riquet,  coming  up  to  his  master,  begged  him, 
with  gentle,  loving  look,  to  continue  the  interrupted 
walk. 

"  Do  not  run  away  with  the  idea,"   went   on 


258  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

M.  de  Terremondre,  "  that  I  include  all  Jews  in 
the  same  blind  feeling  of  dislike.  I  have  many- 
excellent  friends  among  them,  but  my  love  for  my 
country  makes  an  Anti-Semite  of  me." 

He  held  out  his  hand  to  M.  Bergeret,  and  turned 
his  horse  around.  He  was  quietly  proceeding  on 
his  way  when  the  professor  called  him  back. 

"  Hi  !  A  word  in  your  ear,  dear  M.  de  Terre- 
mondre. Now  that  the  die  is  cast,  and  that  you 
and  your  friends  have  quarrelled  with  the  Jews, 
be  very  careful  that  you  owe  them  nothing,  and 
give  them  back  the  God  you  have  taken  from  them 
—  for  you  have  taken  their  God." 

"  Jehovah  ?  "  asked  M.  de  Terremondre. 

"  Yes,  Jehovah  !  If  I  were  in  your  place,  I  would 
beware  of  Him.  He  was  a  Jew  at  heart,  and  who 
knows  whether  He  has  not  always  remained  a  Jew  ? 
Who  knows  whether  at  this  moment  He  is  not 
avenging  His  people  ?  All  that  we  have  seen 
lately,  the  confessions  that  burst  forth  like  thunder- 
claps, the  plain  speaking,  the  revelations  proceeding 
from  all  parts,  the  assembly  of  red-robed  judges 
which  you  were  not  able  to  hinder  even  when  you 
seemed  all-powerful,  who  can  tell  whether  Jehovah 
has  not  dealt  these  crushing  blows  ?  They  savour 
of  His  old  biblical  style,  and  I  seem  to  recognize  His 
handiwork." 

M.    de    Terremondre's    horse    was    already    dis- 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  259 

appearing  behind  the  bushes  round  the  bend  of 
the  path,  and  Riquet  trotted  along  contentedly- 
through  the  grass. 

"  Beware  !  "  repeated   M.   Bergeret.     "  Do  not 
keep  their  God." 


CHAPTER  XX 

JADAME     WORMS-  CLAVELIN 

came  along  through  the  rainy  dark- 
ness, holding  up  her  umbrella,  and 
walking  with  the  brisk,  decided  step 
which,  for  a  wonder,  had  not  grown 
heavy  from  long  years  spent  in  provincial  towns. 
The  door  of  the  carriage  that  was  waiting  for  her 
in  front  of  the  gates  of  the  Park  Monceau,  opened 
a  little,  and  then  stood  wide,  and  Madame  Worms- 
Clavelin  slipped  calmly  in  and  took  a  seat  beside 
the  young  secretary,  who  immediately  inquired  as 
to  her  health. 

"  I  am  always  well,"  she  replied,  adding,  "  What 
awful  weather  !  " 

Streams  of  rain  were  running  down  the  carriage 
windows ;  the  street  noises  were  drowned  in  the 
damp  air,  and  all  that  could  be  heard  was  the  gentle 
drip  of  the  raindrops. 

When  the  carriage  began  to  roll  with  a  muffled 
sound  over  the  paved  road,  she  asked : 
"  Where  are  we  going  ?  " 
"  Where  you  like." 

260 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  261 

"  I  don't  mind — Neuilly  way,  I  should  think." 

Having  given  instructions  to  the  driver,  Maurice 
Cheiral  turned  to  the  pre  jet' s  wife  and  said : 

"  I  have  much  pleasure  in  informing  you  that 
the  appointment  of  Abbe  Guitrel  (Joachim)  to  the 
See  of  Tourcoing  will  be  announced  in  to-morrow's 
Officiel.  I  do  not  want  to  boast,  but  I  can 
assure  you  that  it  has  not  been  a  very  easy  matter 
to  arrange.  The  Nuncio  is  great  at  procrastination. 
People  of  that  description  make  use  of  a  prodigious 
amount  of  inactivity — Well,  anyhow,  everything 
is  settled." 

"  That's  good,"  replied  Madame  Worms-Clave- 
lin.  "  I  am  sure  you  have  rendered  a  service  to  the 
progressive  republican  party,  and  that  the  Moder- 
ates will  have  every  reason  to  be  pleased  with  their 
new  bishop." 

"  At  any  rate,"  went  on  Maurice  Cheiral,  "  you 
are  satisfied." 

After  a  long  silence  he  continued : 

"  Just  think,  I  never  slept  all  night.  I  was 
thinking  of  you,  and  longing  to  see  you  again." 

The  strange  thing  was  that  he  was  speaking  the 
truth,  and  that  the  expectation  of  this  rendezvous 
had  excited  him.  But  he  spoke  in  a  joking  tone 
and  drawling  voice  that  made  his  words  appear 
false,  besides  which  he  was  wanting  both  in  assur- 
ance and  decision. 


262  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Madame  Worms-Clavelin  quite  thought  she 
would  leave  the  carriage  as  she  had  entered  it. 
Assuming  a  serious  and  gentle  expression,  she  said 
in  a  sympathetic  tone  : 

"  Thank  you,  dear  M.  Cheiral.  Put  me  down 
here,  i£  you  please,  and  remember  me  to  your 
mother." 

And  she  held  out  her  hand,  a  little,  stumpy  hand 
clad  in  an  exceedingly  dirty  glove.  But  he  held  it 
tightly,  becoming  tender  and  insistent,  full  of 
desire  and  amour-propre. 

"  I  am  as  muddy  as  a  water  spaniel,"  she  re- 
marked, just  as  he  was  about  to  find  that  out  for 
himself. 

While  he  adhered  to  his  resolve,  in  spite  of  the 
obstacles  of  circumstances  and  environment,  she 
showed  the  most  perfect  good  taste  and  simplicity. 
With  wonderful  tact,  she  avoided  all  the  unpleasant- 
ness arising  from  an  over-prolonged  resistance  or  a 
too  rapid  resignation.  In  like  manner  she  avoided 
any  remark  that  might  reveal  either  ironical  in- 
difference or  interested  participation.  She  behaved 
perfectly.  She  had  no  feeling  of  dislike  for  the 
young  statesman,  who  was  so  innocent  at  the  very 
moment  when  he  believed  himself  to  be  so  wicked, 
and  feelings  of  real  regret  came  over  her  as  she 
reflected  that  she  might  have  been  more  careful  in 
selecting  her  lUigerie  for  the  occasion ;    she  never 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  -  263 

had  been  careful  enough  of  that,  but  of  late  years 
her  carelessness  had  become  somewhat  excessive. 
Her  greatest  merit  on  this  occasion  was  in  keeping 
clear  of  all  emphasis  and  exaggeration. 

After  a  while,  Maurice  suddenly  became  quiet, 
indifferent,  even  a  trifle  bored.  He  talked  of  things 
quite  foreign  to  their  present  situation,  and  peered 
through  the  blurred  window-panes  at  the  streets 
that  looked  as  though  the  carriage  were  going  along 
at  the  bottom  of  an  aquarium  ;  all  that  could  be 
seen  through  the  rain  was  the  gas-jets,  and  here  and 
there  the  glass  jars  in  the  windows  of  the  chemists' 
shops. 

"  What  awful  rain  !  "  sighed  Madame  Worms- 
Clavelin. 

"  The  weather  has  been  dreadful  for  the  last 
week,"  said  Maurice  Cheiral,  "  simply  rotten. 
Is  it  the  same  in  your  part  of  the  country  ?  " 

"  We  get  more  rain  in  our  department  than  in 
any  other  in  France,"  replied  Madame  Worms- 
Clavelin  with  charming  sweetness.  "  But  there 
is  never  any  mud  on  the  broad,  gravelled  garden 
paths  of  the  Prefecture.  Then  we  country  people 
wear  clogs." 

"  Do  you  know,"  said  Cheiral,  "  that  I  have 
never  been  to  your  town  ?  " 

"  There  are  beautiful  walks  there,"  replied 
Madame  Worms-Clavelin,  "  and  the  surroundings 


264  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

are  charming.     Do  come  and  see  us.     My  husband 
would  be  dehghted." 

"  Does  your  husband  like  living  there  r  " 

"  Yes,  he  likes  it  because  he  has  been  successful 
there." 

In  her  turn,  she  tried  to  see  through  the  clouded 
panes  and  to  pierce  the  thick  darkness  that  was  full 
of  fugitive  glimmers  of  light. 

"  Where  are  we  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Far  away  from  everywhere,  I  should  think,"  he 
replied  eagerly.  "  Where  would  you  like  me  to  put 
you  down  ?  " 

She  asked  him  to  stop  at  a  station,  and  he  did  not 
attempt  to  disguise  his  anxiety  to  leave  her. 

"  I  must  go  to  the  Chambre,"  he  said.  "  I  do 
not  know  what  they  have  been  doing  to-day." 

"  Ah,  they  were  sitting  to-day  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  but  there  was  nothing  of 
importance,  I  believe — an  increase  of  tariff.  But 
one  never  knows.     I  had  better  just  look  in." 

They  took  leave  of  one  another  easily  and 
amicably.  As  Madame  Worms-Clavelin  stepped 
into  a  fiacre  in  the  Boulevard  de  Courcelles,  near  the 
fortifications,  she  heard  the  newsboys  crying  the 
evening  papers,  and  holding  them  out  to  the 
passers-by  as  they  hurried  along.  She  caught  sight 
of  a  heading  in  huge  letters — "  Fall  of  the  Govern- 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  265 

Madame  Worms-Clavelin  stood  for  a  moment 
looking  at  the  men,  and  listening  to  the  voices  dying 
away  in  the  rainy  night.  She  reflected  that,  if 
Loyer  were  really  going  to  send  in  his  resignation 
to  the  President  of  the  Republic,  there  would  be 
in  all  probability  no  notice  in  to-morrow's  Officiel 
of  the  new  appointments  in  the  Church.  She 
reflected  that  her  husband's  decoration  would  not 
be  included  in  the  last  will  and  testament  of  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  and  that  hence  the  half- 
hour  she  had  spent  in  the  blue-curtained  fiacre 
was  of  no  avail.  She  had  no  regret  over  what  had 
happened,  but  did  not  like  doing  things  to  no 
purpose. 

"  Neuilly,"  she  said  to  the  driver,  "  Boulevard 
Bineau,  the  Convent  of  the  Dames  du  Saint-Sang." 

And  she  sat  pensive  and  solitary,  while  the 
cries  of  the  newsvendors  filled  her  ears,  and 
she  tried  to  convince  herself  that  the  news  was 
true.  She  would  not  buy  a  paper,  however, 
partly  out  of  mistrust  and  contempt  for  all  news- 
paper matter,  and  partly  because  she  was  deter- 
mined not  to  rob  herself  of  so  much  as  a  half- 
penny. She  reflected  that  if  the  Ministry  really 
had  fallen,  just  at  the  moment  when  she  was 
being  so  prodigal  of  her  favours,  it  was  a  striking 
example  of  the  irony  of  things  and  the  spite  that 
hovers  ceaselessly  about  us,  like  the  very  atmosphere 


266  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

we  breathe.  She  asked  herself  whether  Loyer's 
secretary-in-chief  had  not  known  the  news  that 
was  now  being  shouted  abroad  while  he  waited 
for  her  at  the  park  gates.  At  this  thought  she 
grew  scarlet,  as  though  her  chastity  had  been 
outraged  and  her  faith  betrayed,  for  if  that  were 
the  case  Maurice  Cheiral  had  been  making  game 
of  her,  and  that  she  could  not  endure.  However, 
her  sound  common  sense  and  wide  experience  soon 
came  to  her  aid,  assuring  her  that  it  was  never 
safe  to  trust  the  newspapers.  She  thought  of  Abbe 
Guitrel  without  a  qualm,  and  congratulated  herself 
on  having  contributed  in  ever  so  small  a  degree  to 
the  elevation  of  the  excellent  priest  to  the  See  of 
the  Blessed  Saint  Loup.  She  arranged  a  few  little 
details  of  her  toilet  the  while,  so  that  she  might 
present  a  good  appearance  in  the  parlour  of  the 
Dames  du  Saint-Sang  who  were  charged  with  the 
education  of  her  daughter. 

The  fog  was  paler  and  less  dense  in  the  deserted 
avenues,  and  the  low,  damp  streets  of  Neuilly. 
Through  the  gentle  rain,  the  strong,  graceful 
outlines  of  the  great  bare  trees  were  visible. 
Madame  Worms-Clavelin  caught  a  glimpse  of  some 
poplars,  and  they  reminded  her  of  the  country 
which  she  loved  more  dearly  every  day. 

She  reached  the  barred  doorway  crowned  with  a 
stone  shield  bearing  the  glove  in  which  Joseph  of 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  267 

Arimathea  received  the  sacred  blood  of  the  Saviour, 
and  rang  the  bell.  At  her  request,  the  portress  sent 
for  Mademoiselle  de  Clavelin,  and  Madame  Worms- 
Clavelin  entered  the  bright  parlour  with  its  horse- 
hair chairs.  As  she  sat  there  before  a  picture  of 
the  Virgin  extending  her  blessing-laden  hands,  the 
prejefs  wife  was  filled  with  a  strong,  sweet  feeling 
of  religion.  She  was  not  wholly  a  Christian,  because 
she  had  never  been  baptized.  But  her  daughter 
had  been  baptized,  and  was  being  brought  up  in 
the  Catholic  faith.  Together  with  the  Republic, 
Madame  Worms-Clavelin  felt  strong  leanings  to- 
wards a  conventional  piety,  and  with  a  sincere 
uplifting  of  the  heart  she  saluted  the  kind,  blue- 
veiled  Virgin,  to  whom  well-to-do  ladies  like 
herself  poured  out  their  troubles  and  necessities. 
She  thanked  Providence  for  all  her  blessings,  as  she 
sat  before  the  picture  of  Mary,  with  her  outstretched 
arms,  and  she  thanked  the  Virgin  with  a  mystical 
intensity  that  the  Jewish  religion  had  never  been 
able  to  satisfy.  She  was  full  of  gratitude  to  God, 
who  had  guided  her  from  the  miserable  days  of 
her  childhood  in  Montmartre,  when  she  had  run 
about  the  greasy  streets  of  the  outer  boulevards  in 
her  worn-out  shoes,  until  the  present  time,  when 
she  mixed  in  the  best  society,  belonged  to  the 
ruling  classes,  and  had  a  share  in  the  affairs  that 
governed  the  country  ;    and  she  thanked  God  that 


268  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

in  all  her  negotiations — for  life  is  difficult,  and  one 
often  needs  the  help  of  others — she  had,  at  any 
rate,  never  had  to  come  into  contact  with  any  but 
men  of  position  in  the  world. 

"  Good  evening,  mother  !  " 

Madame  Worms-Clavelin  drew  her  daughter 
under  the  lamp  and  examined  her  teeth  ;  that  was 
always  her  first  care.  Then  she  looked  at  her  eyes, 
to  see  whether  she  were  anaemic  or  not,  saw  that  her 
back  was  straight  and  that  she  did  not  bite  her  nails. 
When  satisfied  on  all  these  points,  she  inquired  as 
to  her  work  and  her  conduct.  Her  solicitude  was 
full  of  sound  common  sense  and  much  experience, 
and  altogether  she  was  an  excellent  mother. 

When  at  last  the  bell  rang  for  evening  study, 
and  it  was  time  to  say  good-bye,  Madame  Worms- 
Clavelin  drew  from  her  pocket  a  box  of  chocolates. 
The  box  was  crushed,  broken,  dilapidated,  and  as 
flat  as  a  pancake. 

Mademoiselle  de  Clavelin  took  it,  saying  with  a 
laugh : 

"  Oh,  mother  !    It  looks  as  if  it  had  been  in  the 


wars 


I  » 


"  It  is  this  dreadful  weather  !  "  said  Madame 
Worms-Clavelin,  with  a  shrug  of  her  shoulders. 

That  evening  after  dinner  at  the  boarding- 
house  she  found  on  the  drawing-room  table  a 
well-known  evening  paper  whose  information  she 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  269 

knew  to  be  well  authenticated.  On  reading  it,  she 
learned  that  the  Government  had  not  fallen,  and 
was  not  even  in  difficulties.  It  is  true  that  it  had 
been  in  the  minority  at  the  commencement  of  the 
sitting,  but  that  was  only  on  the  order  of  the  day, 
and  it  had  immediately  been  followed  by  a  majority 
of  105. 

The  news  delighted  her,  and  as  she  thought  of 
her  husband,  she  said  to  herself,  "  Lucien  will  be 
pleased  to  hear  that  Guitrel  has  been  made  bishop." 


CHAPTER  XXI 

SK  M.  Guitrel  to  come  in,"  said 
Loyer. 

Seated  at  his  desk,  the  Minister 
was  hardly  visible  behind  the 
heaps  of  paper  piled  upon  it ; 
he  was  a  little  spectacled  old  man,  with  a  grey 
moustache,  watery  eyes,  and  a  sniff — a  cynical, 
cantankerous  old  fellow,  but  an  honest  man  who, 
in  spite  of  the  power  and  honour  that  had  fallen 
to  his  lot,  still  had  the  appearance  and  manner  of 
a  professor  of  the  law.  He  took  off  his  spectacles 
and  wiped  them,  for  he  was  curious  to  see  the  Abbe, 
the  candidate  to  the  episcopal  dignity,  who  had 
been  backed  by  so  many  brilliant  society  women. 

Madame  de  Gromance,  the  pretty  provincial,  had 
been  the  first  to  call  upon  him  at  the  end  of 
December.  She  had  told  him,  without  beating 
about  the  bush,  that  he  must  appoint  the  Abbe 
Guitrel  to  the  see  of  Tourcoing.  The  old  Minister, 
who  still  loved  the  perfume  that  clings  to  a  pretty 
woman,  had  kept  the  little  hand  of  Madame  de 
Gromance  for  a  long  time  between  his,  stroking 

270 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  271 

with  his  thumb  the  bare  space  between  the  glove 
and  the  sleeve  where  over  the  blue  veins  the  skin 
is  softest.  He  had  not  gone  further,  however, 
because  he  was  getting  old,  and  everything  was  an 
effort  to  him,  and  also  he  was  afraid  of  appearing 
ridiculous  in  her  eyes,  for  he  still  had  his  share  of 
vanity.  His  words  alone  savoured  of  impropriety, 
and,  according  to  his  invariable  custom,  he  inquired 
for  Madame  de  Gromance's  "  old  Royalist,"  as  he 
familiarly  called  her  husband.  His  eyes  had  become 
tearful  behind  their  bluish  glasses,  and  his  face  had 
creased  itself  into  a  thousand  little  wrinkles  at  the 
excellence  of  the  jest. 

The  idea  that  the  "  old  Royalist  "  was  a  wronged 
husband  filled  the  Minister  of  Justice  and  Public 
Worship  with  what  really  was  inordinate  glee.  As 
he  thought  of  it,  he  looked  at  Madame  de  Gromance 
with  more  curiosity,  interest,  and  pleasure  than 
was  perhaps  in  the  case  justifiable,  but  from  the 
ruins  of  his  amorous  nature  he  was  building  a 
series  of  mental  amusements,  the  most  intense  of 
which  was  to  gloat  over  the  misfortune  of  M.  de 
Gromance  in  the  very  presence  of  its  voluptuous 
cause. 

During  the  six  months  in  which  he  had  been 
Minister  of  the  Interior  in  a  former  Radical 
Cabinet,  he  had  received  from  Worms -Clavelin 
private  and  confidential  notes,  telling  him  all  about 


272  THE  AMETHYST   RING 

the  Gromance  menage,  so  that  he  knew  all  there 
was  to  know  about  Clotilde's  lovers,  and  delighted 
in  the  knowledge  that  they  were  numerous.  He 
had  received  the  beautiful  petitioner  with  every 
kindness,  promising  to  look  into  M.  Guitrel's  case, 
but  committing  himself  no  further,  for  he  was  a 
good  Republican,  and  did  not  believe  in  subor- 
dinating affairs  of  state  to  a  woman's  caprice. 

Then,  too,  the  Baronne  de  Bonmont,  who  was 
reputed  to  have  the  most  beautiful  shoulders  in 
Paris,  had  spoken  in  favour  of  Abbe  Guitrel  at  the 
Elysee  soirees.  Finally,  Madame  Worms-Clavelin, 
the  prefers  wife,  a  very  charming  woman,  had 
whispered  a  word  in  his  ear  concerning  the  good 
Abbe. 

Loyer  was  very  ciirious  to  see  the  priest  who  had 
fluttered  so  many  feminine  hearts.  He  wondered 
whether  he  was  about  to  behold  one  of  the  great 
sturdy  becassocked  fellows  that  of  latter  days  the 
Church  has  thrown  into  public  gatherings,  sending 
them  as  far  even  as  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  one 
of  those  young,  full-blooded,  outspoken  clerical 
tribunes  of  the  people — headstrong  and  shrewd, 
with  a  power  over  simple  men  and  women. 

The  Abbe  Guitrel  entered  the  study,  his  head 
upon  one  side,  and  holding  his  hat  before  him  in 
his  clasped  hands.  He  was  not  unprepossessing, 
but  his  desire  to  please,  and  his  respect  for  the 


TPIE   AMETHYST   RING  273 

powers  that  be,  made  his  habitual  carefully  assumed 
priestly  dignity  less  apparent  than  usual. 

Loyer  noticed  his  three  chins  and  domed  head, 
his  portly  form,  his  narrow  shoulders,  and  his 
unctuousness.    He  was  quite  an  old  man  too. 

"  What  do  the  women  want  with  him  ?  " 
he  thought. 

The  interview  was  trifling  on  either  side ;  but, 
after  questioning  M.  Guitrel  on  some  points  of 
ecclesiastical  administration,  Loyer  gathered  from 
the  fat  man's  replies  that  his  views  were  both 
sensible  and  fair. 

He  remembered  'that  the  Director  of  Public 
Worship,  M.  Mostart,  was  not  against  the  nomi- 
nation of  Abbe  Guitrel  to  the  See  of  Tourcoing. 
Truth  to  tell,  M.  Mostart  had  not  given  him  much 
information  on  the  subject.  Since  there  had 
been  such  a  rapid  succession  of  clerical  and  anti- 
clerical cabinets,  the  Director  of  Public  Worship 
had  not  dabbled  overmuch  in  the  making  of 
bishops  ;  the  matter  had  become  too  delicate 
of  handling.  He  had  a  house  at  Joinville,  and  was 
fond  of  gardening  and  fishing.  His  dearest  dream 
was  to  write  a  chatty  history  of  the  Bobino  Theatre, 
which  he  had  known  in  its  palmy  days.  He  was 
growing  old,  was  a  prudent  man,  and  did  not  stick 
obstinately  to  his  own  opinion.  The  evening 
before  he  had  said  to  Loyer,   "  I   propose  Abbe 


274  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Guitrel,  but  there's  nothing  to  choose  between 
Abbe  Guitrel  and  Abbe  Lantaigne,  it's  six  of  one 
and  half  a  dozen  of  the  other  !  "  Those  were  the 
very  words  of  the  Director  of  Public  Worship,  but 
Loyer  was  himself  an  old  doctor  at  law,  and  always 
able  to  make  nice  distinctions. 

M.  Guitrel  seemed  to  him  sensible  enough,  and 
not  too  fanatical. 

"  You  are  not  ignorant  of  the  fact,  Monsieur 
I'Abbe,"  he  said,  "  that  the  late  Bishop  of  Tourcoing, 
M.  Duclou,  tended  to  become  intolerant  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  and  gave  an  unreasonable 
amount  of  work  to  the  Council  of  State.  What  is 
your  opinion  on  the  subject  ?  " 

"  Alas,"  replied  the  Abbe  Guitrel,  with  a  sigh, 
"  it  is  quite  true  that  in  his  declining  years,  as  he 
neared  the  period  of  eternal  blessedness,  A4on- 
seigneur  Duclou  made  some  rather  unfortunate 
declarations.  The  situation  was  a  difficult  one 
then,  but  things  have  greatly  altered,  and  his 
successor  will  be  able  to  labour  quietly  towards 
the  establishment  of  peace.  What  he  will  have  to 
aim  at  is  real  peace.  The  road  to  it  is  marked  ;  he 
will  have  to  enter  upon  it  resolutely  and  follow  it 
to  the  end.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  laws  dealing  with 
education  and  the  Army  do  not  give  rise  nowadays 
to  any  difficulties,  and  all  that  really  remains  is 
the   question    of    the    taxation   of   religious    com- 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  275 

munities.  This  question,  we  must  allow,  is 
peculiarly  important  in  a  diocese  like  Tourcoing, 
which,  i£  I  may  say  so,  is  plastered  with  all  kinds  of 
religious  institutions.  I  have  studied  it  at  length, 
and,  if  you  wish,  can  speak  of  the  conclusions  to 
which  this  study  has  led  me." 

"  The  clergy,"  said  Lover,  "  dislike  parting  with 
their  money.    That  is  the  truth." 

"  Nobody  likes  it.  Monsieur  le  Ministre,"  re- 
turned Abbe  Guitrel,  "  and  Your  Excellency, 
such  an  adept  in  all  that  relates  to  finance, 
must  realize  that  there  is  a  way  of  shearing  the 
ratepayer  without  making  him  complain.  Why 
not  use  the  same  method  with  our  poor  monks, 
who  are  too  good  Frenchmen  not  to  be  good  rate- 
payers ?  You  must  bear  in  mind,  Monsieur  le 
Ministre,  that  they  are  subject  in  the  first  case  to 
the  ordinary  taxes  that  everybody  pays." 

"  Naturally,"  put  in  Loyer. 

"  Secondly,  to  taxes  on  inalienable  property." 

*'  And  do  you  complain  of  that  ?  "  inquired  the 
Minister. 

"  Not  at  all,"  replied  the  Abbe.  "  I  am  merely 
enumerating  them  all — quick  reckonings  make  long 
friends.  Thirdly,  to  a  tax  of  four  per  cent  on  the 
income  accruing  from  lands,  houses,  furniture,  and 
money ;  and,  fourthly,  they  are  liable  to  the 
increment  duty,  as  established  by  the  laws  of  the 


276  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

28th  of  December,  1880,  and  the  29th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1884.  It  is  only  the  principle  underlying  this 
last  tax,  as  you  know.  Monsieur  le  Ministre,  that 
has  been  contested  by  several  communities.  The 
agitation  has  not  yet  died  down  everywhere,  and 
it  is  on  this  point,  Monsieur  le  Ministre,  that 
I  take  the  liberty  of  expressing  the  views  which 
would  actuate  me,  were  I  to  have  the  honour  of 
occupying  the  see  of  the  Blessed  Saint  Loup." 

As  a  sign  of  attention,  the  Minister  turned  round 
in  his  chair,  and  faced  the  Abbe,  who  went  on  in 
the  following  terms : 

"  As  a  matter  of  principle.  Monsieur  le  Ministre, 
I  disapprove  of  the  spirit  of  revolt,  and  dislike  any 
tumultuous  or  systematic  claiming  of  rights,  and 
in  this  I  only  comply  with  the  Encyclical  beginning 
'  Diuturmim  illudy^  in  which  Leo  XHI,  following 
the  example  of  St.  Paul,  exhorts  his  people  to 
obedience  towards  the  civil  authorities.  So  much 
for  principle  ;  let  us  now  look  fact  in  the  face. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  find  that  the  religious  in  the 
diocese  of  Tourcoing  are  placed  in  such  different 
positions  with  regard  to  rates  and  taxes  that 
universality  of  action  is  thereby  rendered  exceed- 
ingly difficult.  In  this  diocese  there  are  authorized 
and  unauthorized  communities,  some  communities 
dedicated  to  works  of  charity  among  the  poor,  the 
aged,  and  the  orphan,  and  some  whose  sole  aim  and 


THE    AMETHYST  RING  277 

object  is  a  life  of  spiritual  contemplation.  They 
are  taxed  differently,  according  to  their  different 
purposes.  It  is  my  opinion  that  the  very  opposition 
of  their  interests  breaks  down  resistance,  unless 
their  bishop  himself  directs  the  tenor  of  their 
claims,  a  thing  which,  for  my  part,  I  should  avoid, 
if  I  were  their  spiritual  head.  I  would  willingly 
see  uncertainty  and  division  among  the  com- 
munities of  my  diocese  if  by  so  doing  I  could 
ensure  the  peace  of  the  Church  as  a  whole.  As  far 
as  my  secular  clergy  were  concerned,"  added  the 
priest  in  a  firm  voice,  "  I  would  answer  for  them  as 
a  general  answers  for  his  troops." 

Having  thus  spoken,  M.  Guitrel  apologized  for 
having  given  such  free  vent  to  his  thoughts,  and 
wasted  the  precious  time  of  His  Excellency. 

Old  Loyer  made  no  answer,  but  he  nodded 
approval.  For  a  parson,  Guitrel  was  not  so  difficult 
to  get  on  with  after  all,  he  thought. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

ADAME  DE  BONMONT  dismissed 
her  carriage,  and,  hailing  a  cab, 
drove  to  the  street  where,  amid 
the  rumble  of  drays  and  the  whistle 
of  engines,  she  carried  on  her  love 
affair.  She  would  have  preferred  to  see  her  Rara 
in  a  region  adorned  with  gardens,  but  love  is  some- 
times shy  under  the  myrtles  or  by  the  murmuring 
fountains.  Madame  de  Bonmont's  thoughts  were 
sad  as  she  drove  along  the  streets  where  the  lamps 
were  just  beginning  to  glimmer  through  the  misty 
evening  light.  Guitrel  had  indeed  been  appointed 
Bishop  of  Tourcoing,  and  she  rejoiced  thereat,  but 
joy  did  not  possess  her  soul  completely.  Rara, 
with  his  black  humour  and  ferocious  desires, 
worried  her  terribly.  Now  she  went  in  fear  and 
trembling  to  the  rendezvous,  to  which  in  former 
times  she  had  so  eagerly  looked  forward.  Confiding 
and  retiring  by  nature,  she  dreaded,  on  his  account 
as  well  as  her  own,  anything  in  the  nature  of 
danger,  catastrophe,  or  scandal.    Her  lover's  mental 

278 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  279 

attitude,  which  had  never  been  satisfactory, 
had  quite  suddenly  grown  worse.  Since  the 
suicide  of  Colonel  Henry  he  had  become  dreadful 
to  look  upon.  The  bitterness  in  his  blood  had 
acted  like  vitriol  upon  his  countenance,  as  it  were 
searing  his  forehead,  his  eyelids,  his  cheeks,  with 
marks  of  fire  and  brimstone.  For  the  last  fort- 
night mysterious  causes  had  kept  her  dear  one 
absent  from  the  flat  which  he  rented  opposite  the 
Moulin-Rouge,  and  which  was  his  legal  domicile. 
He  had  his  letters  forwarded  to  him,  and  re- 
ceived visitors  in  the  little  suite  which  Madame  de 
Bonmont  had  taken  for  quite  a  different  use. 

Slowly  and  sadly  she  went  up  the  stairs,  but  even 
on  the  very  threshold  of  the  door  the  hope  of  finding 
the  delightful  Kara  of  former  days  stirred  her 
heart.  Alas,  her  hope  was  vain,  she  was  greeted 
with  bitter  words : 

"  What  do  you  come  here  for  ?  You  despise  me 
like  all  the  rest." 

She  protested  at  such  cruelty. 

She  did  not  despise  him — on  the  contrary,  her 
loving  animal  nature  led  her  to  admire  him.  She 
put  her  painted,  yet  youthful,  lips  to  her  lover's 
mouth,  and  kissed  him  sobbingly  ;  but,  pushing 
her  away,  he  began  to  pace  furiously  up  and  down 
the  two  blue-tapestried  rooms. 

Noiselessly  she  untied  the  little  parcel  of  cakes 


28o  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

she  had  brought  with  her,  and  said  in  a  hopeless, 
toneless  voice  : 

"  Will  you  have  a  baba  P  It  is  kirsch,  just  as 
you  like  them,"  and  she  handed  him  the  cake 
between  two  dainty  sugary  fingers.  But  he  refused 
to  see  or  hear  her,  and  continued  his  fierce,  mono- 
tonous promenade. 

Then,  with  tear-dimmed  eyes  and  bosom  that 
heaved  with  sighs,  she  lifted  the  thick  black  veil 
which,  mask-like,  covered  the  upper  part  of  her  face, 
and  silently  commenced  to  eat  a  chocolate  eclair. 
*At  last,  however,  not  knowing  what  to  do  or 
to  say,  she  took  a  jewel-case  from  her  pocket,  and, 
opening  it,  displayed  for  Rara  the  bishop's  ring 
which  it  contained,  saying  in  a  timid  voice : 

"  Look  at  M.  Guitrel's  ring.  It  is  a  pretty 
stone,  isn't  it  ?  It  is  an  Hungarian  amethyst.  Do 
you  think  M.  Guitrel  will  like  it  ?  " 

"  I  don't  care  a  damn  !  " 

She  put  the  case  down  on  the  toilet  table  in 
despair,  while  he,  resuming  the  usual  current  of 
his  thoughts,  growled  out : 

"  There's  no  mistake  about  it  !  I  will  do  for  one 
of  them  !  " 

She  looked  at  him  doubtfully,  for  she  had  noticed 
that  he  was  always  threatening  to  kill  everybody, 
and  that  he  killed  no  one.  He  divined  her  hidden 
thought.    It  was  dreadful. 


THE    AMETHYST  RING  281 

"  I  knew  that  you  despised  me  too,"  he  said. 

He  nearly  struck  her,  and  she  wept  bitterly  ; 
eventually  he  calmed  down,  however,  and  drew  her 
a  terrible  picture  of  his  financial  embarrassments. 

She  wept  at  the  picture,  but  did  not  promise  to 
give  him  much,  because  it  was  against  her  principles 
to  give  money  to  a  lover,  and,  besides,  she  feared 
he  might  go  away  altogether  if  he  had  the  means  to 
do  so. 

When  she  left  the  little  blue  rooms  she  was  so 
upset  that  she  quite  forgot  the  amethyst  ring  lying 
on  the  toilet  table. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

RE  you  working,  dear  Master,  do 
I  disturb  you  ?"  asked  M.  Goubin, 
entering  M.  Bergeret's  study. 

"Not  at  all,"  replied  the  pro- 
fessor. "  I  was  amusing  myself  by 
translating  a  Greek  text  of  the  Alexandrine  period, 
discovered  in  a  tomb  at  Philae." 

"  I  should  be  very  glad  if  you  would  read  me 
your  translation,  dear  Master,"  said  M.  Goubin. 

"  With  pleasure,"  replied  M.  Bergeret,  and  he 
began : 

Concerning  Hercules  Atimos. 
Deeds  are  commonly  ascribed  to  the  one  and 
only  Hercules  which  in  reality  have  been  accom- 
plished by  other  heroes  bearing  the  same  name. 
That  which  Orpheus  teaches  us  concerning  the 
Thracian  Hercules  relates  to  the  god  rather  than 
to  the  hero.  I  will  not  dwell  upon  this.  The 
Tyrians  tell  of  another  Hercules  to  whom  they 
attribute  labours  so  prodigious  that  they  are 
difficult   to  accept.     What   is  less  known  is   that 

282 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  283 

Alcmena  gave  birth  to  twins  who  were  exactly 
alike,  and  who  each  received  the  name  of  Hercules. 
The  one  was  the  son  of  Jupiter  and  the  other  of 
Amphitryon.  On  account  of  his  great  deeds,  the 
former  attained  the  right  to  drink  from  the  cup 
of  Hebe  at  the  table  of  the  gods,  and  we  look  upon 
him  as  a  god.  The  second  was  unworthy,  that  is 
why  he  was  called  Hercules  Atimos. 

What  I  know  of  him  I  have  learned  from  an  in- 
habitant of  Eleusis,  a  wise  and  prudent  man  who  has 
collected  together  many  ancient  legends.  This  is 
what  he  told  me  : 

Hercules  Atimos,  the  son  of  Amphitryon,  when 
nearing  manhood,  received  from  his  father  a  bow 
and  arrows,  forged  by  Vulcan,  which  dealt  certain 
death  to  any  creature  whom  they  struck. 

Now  one  day,  when  shooting  wild  cranes  on  the 
slopes  of  Cithaeron,  he  met  a  herdsman  who  ad- 
dressed him  thus : 

"  Son  of  Amphitryon,  there  is  an  evil  man  who 
daily  steals  some  of  our  cattle.  Thou  art  full  of 
youth  and  vigour.  If  thou  canst  find  the  thief 
and  strike  him  with  one  of  thy  magic  arrows, 
thou  wilt  gain  great  praise.  But  he  is  not  easy  of 
approach,  for  his  feet  are  larger  than  the  feet  of 
other  men,  and  he  is  very  fleet." 

Atimos  promised  the  herdsman  that  he  would 
punish  the  brigand,  and  went  upon  his  way.    Hiding 


284  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

in  the  mountain  gorges,  he  saw  at  a  distance  the 
figure  of  a  man  who  appeared  to  him  evil.  Thinking 
it  was  the  cattle-stealer,  he  killed  him  with  his 
arrows.  But  while  the  man's  blood  was  still  fresh 
upon  the  wild  anemones,  Pallas  Athene,  the  bright- 
eyed  goddess,  descended  from  Olympus,  and  came 
to  meet  Atimos,  who  did  not  recognize  her,  for  she 
was  disguised  as  an  old  servant  of  King  Amphitryon. 
And  the  goddess  spoke  to  him  thus : 

"  Divine  son  of  Amphitryon,  the  man  thou  hast 
killed  was  not  a  stealer  of  cattle,  but  a  good  man. 
The  guilty  man  is  easily  recognized  by  the  print  of 
his  feet  in  the  dust,  for  they  are  larger  than  those 
of  other  men.  The  dead  man's  conduct  was 
irreproachable,  and  his  life  a  life  of  innocence. 
Therefore  shalt  thou  pray  with  tears  to  the  divine 
Apollo  to  restore  him  to  life.  Apollo  will  not 
refuse  thy  request  if  thou  pleadest  with  outstretched 
supplicating  hands." 

Full  of  anger,  however,  Atimos  replied : 

"  I  have  punished  this  man  for  his  wickedness. 
Dost  thou  think,  old  man,  that  I  know  not  what  I 
do  and  strike  at  random  ?  Peace  !  Get  thee  gone, 
thou  madman,  or  thou  shalt  repent  thy  audacity." 

Some  young  shepherds  who  were  gambolling 
with  their  goats  upon  the  slopes  of  Cithaeron 
hearing  the  words  of  Atimos,  received  them  with 
such  shouts  of  praise  that  the  mountain  resounded 


THE    AMETHYST   RING  285 

and  the  ancient  pine  trees  stirred  and  quivered. 
And  Pallas  Athene,  the  bright-eyed  goddess,  re- 
turned to  snowy  Olympus. 

Atimos,  however,  had  resumed  his  journey,  and 
soon  found  himself  upon  the  tracks  of  the  cattle- 
thief,  whom  he  could  see  at  a  little  distance  ahead. 
He  recognized  him  quite  easily  by  his  footprints  in 
the  sand,  for  they  were  much  greater  than  those  of 
other  men. 

Then  thought  the  hero  to  himself,  "  It  is  neces- 
sary that  men  believe  in  the  innocence  of  this  man, 
so  that  they  may  believe  I  have  slain  the  guilty 
one,  and  that  my  glory  be  made  known  among 
men." 

With  this  thought  in  his  mind,  he  called  the  man 
and  said  to  him  :  "  Friend,  I  honour  thee  because 
thou  art  good  and  thy  thoughts  just."  Then, 
drawing  from  his  quiver  one  of  the  arrows  made  by 
Vulcan,  he  gave  it  to  the  man  with  these  words, 
"  Take  this  arrow  made  by  Vulcan.  All  those  who 
see  thee  with  it  will  honour  thee,  and  thou  wilt  be 
judged  worthy  of  the  friendship  of  a  hero." 

Thus  spoke  he.  The  thief  took  the  arrow  and 
went  away.  And  divine  Athene,  the  bright-eyed 
goddess,  descended  from  snowy  Olympus.  She 
disguised  herself  as  a  gentle  shepherd,  and,  coming 
up  to  Atimos,  said :  "  Son  of  Amphitryon,  in 
absolving    the    guilty    man    thou    hast    killed    the 


286  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

innocent  a  second  time.    And  this  action  shall  not 
bring  thee  glory  among  men." 

But  Atimos  did  not  recognize  the  goddess,  and 
believing  her  to  be  a  shepherd,  he  cried  in  fury : 
"  Chicken-heart,  vain  babbler,  dog,  I  will  tear  out 
thy  soul !  "  And  he  lifted  against  Pallas  Athene 
his  bow,  the  wood  of  which  was  harder  than  the 
iron  of  the  arrows  forged  by  Vulcan. 

"  The  rest  is  missing,"  said  M.  Bergeret,  replacing 
the  papers  upon  his  table. 

"  What  a  pity  !  "  said  M.  Goubin. 

"  It  is  a  pity,"  said  M.  Bergeret.  "  I  have  been 
much  interested  in  translating  this  Greek  text ; 
one  must  have  a  change  sometimes  from  everyday 
affairs." 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

S  evening  fell,  Madame  de  Bonmont 
with  anxious  heart  hailed  a  cab  and 
drove  to  Rara's  rooms,  for  she  wished 
to  see  him  again  and  to  recover 
the  amethyst  ring.  But  she  feared 
some  disaster.  When  the  cab  crossed  the  Pont 
de  I'Europe  and  stopped  in  front  of  her  lover's 
door  she  saw  that  the  road  was  black  with  hats 
and  coats.  Something  was  going  on  that  re- 
minded her  of  a  funeral  or  a  removal.  Men  were 
heaping  portfolios  and  piles  of  papers  into  a  cab, 
others  were  bringing  along  a  little  box  which 
Madame  de  Bonmont  recognised  as  the  old  military 
trunk  filled  with  stamped  papers  in  which  Rara  had 
so  often  plunged  his  flushed  arms  and  his  furious, 
hairy  visage. 

As  she  stood  there,  frozen  with  terror,  she  heard  the 

voice  of  the  dishevelled  concierge  whisper  in  her  ear  : 

"  Don't  come  in.     Be  off  as  fast  as  you  can  ! 

The  police  are  here  with  the  magistrate  and  the 

287 


288  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

commissioner.  They  have  seized  your  gentleman's 
papers  and  sealed  up  everything." 

The  cab  carried  away  a  prostrate  Madame  de 
Bonmont.  In  the  depths  of  despair  at  her  lost 
love  she  was,  however,  conscious  of  this  thought : 

"  And  Monseigneur  GuitreFs  ring,  which  has 
been  sealed  with  the  rest  ! " 


CHAPTER  XXV 

EOPLE  had  been  talking  about  it  for 
three  months.  M.  Bergeret  learned 
that  he  had  friends  in  Paris  who  had 
never  seen  him,  and  friends  such  as 
these  are  the  surest ;  their  actions 
are  governed  by  sensible,  masterly,  positive  reasons, 
and,  if  only  their  report  is  favourable,  they  are  sure 
of  a  hearing.  M.  Bergeret's  friends  thought  that 
his  place  was  in  Paris,  and  suggested  bringing  him 
there.  M.  Leterrier  did  all  he  could  to  bring  this 
about,  and  at  last  it  was  arranged. 

M.  Bergeret  was  appointed  Professor  at  the 
Sorbonne.  As  he  left  the  house  of  M.  le  Doyen 
Torquet,  who  had  apprised  him  in  the  most  formal 
terms  of  his  nomination,  M.  Bergeret,  finding  him- 
self in  the  street  again,  looked  at  the  slate  roofs, 
the  familiar  free-stone  walls,  the  shaving  basin  that 
swung  gently  to  and  fro  over  the  door  of  the  hair- 
dresser, the  sign  of  the  red  cow  over  the  milkman's, 
and  the  little  bronze  Triton,  with  water  streaming 
from  his  mouth,  at  the  corner  of  the  Faubourg  de 

289 


290  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

Josde ;  and  all  these  familiar  things  appeared 
suddenly  strange  in  his  eyes.  His  feet  had  suddenly 
become  unacquainted  with  the  pavements  on 
which  he  had  so  long  and  so  often  gone  his  way, 
with  feet  rendered  heavy  by  sadness  or  fatigue,  or 
made  light  by  some  slight  happiness  or  amusement. 
The  town,  with  its  towers  and  steeples  standing  up 
against  the  grey  sky,  looked  to  him  like  some  strange, 
far-away  dream  city,  rather  the  picture  of  a  city 
than  the  reality.  And  the  pictiire  grew  smaller  and 
smaller.  People,  as  well  as  things,  seemed  far-away 
and  diminished  in  his  eyes.  The  postman,  two 
women,  and  the  'clerk  of  the  court  whom  he  met, 
looked,  to  him,  like  people  on  a  cinematograph 
screen,  absolutely  unreal  and  belonging  to  quite 
another  world  than  his. 

After  a  few  minutes  of  this  strange  feeling,  he 
pulled  himself  up,  for  he  was  both  thoughtful  and 
quick  to  read  his  own  motives,  thus  providing  him- 
self with  an  inexhaustible  subject  for  surprise, 
sarcasm,  and  pity. 

"  Come  now,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  here  is  a 
town  in  which  I  have  lived  for  fifteen  years,  and 
which  suddenly  becomes  strange  to  me  because  I 
am  about  to  leave  it.  More  than  that,  it  has,  to  a 
certain  extent,  already  become  unreal  to  me.  Now 
that  it  is  no  longer  my  own  town,  it  ceases  to  exist, 
and  is  nothing  but  a  vain  image.    The  reason  is  that 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  291 

the  many  interesting  things  it  contains  were  only 
interesting  in  so  far  as  they  directly  affected  me. 
As  soon  as  they  cease  to  do  that,  they  practically  do 
not  exist  as  far  as  I  am  concerned.  And  thus,  this 
populous  city,  situated  on  the  hills  that  border  a 
great  river,  this  ancient  Gaulish  town,  this  colony 
where  the  Romans  built  temples  and  a  circus  ;  this 
strong  city  that  went  through  three  memorable 
sieges,  where  two  councils  were  held,  which  was 
enriched  with  a  basilica,  the  crypt  of  which  is  still 
in  existence,  a  cathedral,  a  college,  sixteen  parish 
churches,  plus  sixty  chapels,  a  town  hall,  markets, 
hospitals,  and  palaces ;  this  town  which  in  very 
ancient  times  formed  a  part  of  the  royal  domain, 
became  the  capital  of  a  vast  province,  and  still 
bears  on  the  fronton  of  the  governor's  palace,  now 
turned  into  barracks,  the  civic  coat  of  arms  sur- 
rounded by  lions  and  the  Virtues ;  this  town 
which  to-day  contains  an  archbishop's  palace,  a 
Faculty  of  Letters,  a  Faculty  of  Science,  a  Court 
of  Appeal,  and  a  Court  of  Justice  ;  the  chief  town 
of  a  rich  department  only  existed  in  reference  to 
myself.  It  was  peopled  by  myself  alone  ;  I  was 
the  only  cause  of  its  existence.  It  is  high  time  for 
me  to  go  ;  the  town  is  fading  away.  I  never  knew 
that  my  mind  was  subjective  to  such  a  mad  extent. 
A  man  never  knows  himself,  and  is  a  monster  with- 
out realizing  it." 


292  THE   AMETHYST  RING 

Thus  did  M.  Bergeret  examine  himself  with 
praiseworthy  sincerity.  As  he  was  passing  the 
church  of  Saint-Exupere,  however,  he  stopped  under 
the  porch  of  the  Last  Judgment.  He  had  always 
loved  the  old  legendary  sculptures,  and  taken  an 
interest  in  the  stories  graven  upon  the  stone.  One 
devil  in  particular,  who  had  a  dog's  head  on  his 
shoulders,  and  a  man's  face  on  the  nether  portion 
of  his  anatomy,  had  a  peculiar  fascination  for  him. 
He  was  occupied  in  dragging  a  long  file  of  damned 
souls  chained  together,  and  his  two  countenances 
expressed  absolute  contentment.  There  was  also 
a  little  monk  whom  an  angel  was  trying  to  draw 
up  by  his  hands,  while  a  devil  dragged  him  down  by 
the  feet.  M.  Bergeret  loved  that  one,  but  he  had 
never  before  looked  with  so  much  interest  at 
these  objects  which  he  was  now  on  the  point  of 
leaving. 

He  could  not  take  his  eyes  away  from  them. 
The  naive  idea  of  the  universe  expressed  in  stone 
by  men  who  had  been  dead  for  more  than  five 
hundred  years  touched  him,  and  seemed  to  him 
lovable  in  its  absurdity.  He  regretted  never  having 
studied  it  more  closely  or  examined  it  more  sym- 
pathetically. He  remembered  that  this  porch 
of  the  Last  Judgment  which  he  had  seen  gilded  by 
the  rays  of  the  sun  and  whitened  by  the  moonbeams, 
in  the  joyous  summer  time  and  the  dark  winter  days, 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  293 

would  be  with  him  only  a  little  longer,  and  then  he 
would  see  it  no  more. 

He  realized  then  that  he  was  attached  to 
things  by  invisible  links  not  to  be  broken  asunder 
without  pain,  and  his  heart  was  suddenly  filled  with 
great  veneration  for  his  town.  He  loved  her  old 
walls  and  her  old  trees.  He  went  out  of  his  way  to 
go  up  the  Mall  and  look  at  a  favourite  elm  that 
grew  there,  the  one  he  always  sat  beneath  at  the 
close  of  the  long  summer  days.  The  beautiful  tree 
was  now  bare  of  foliage,  and  its  strong,  slender 
framework  stood  out  naked  and  black  against  the 
sky.  M.  Bergeret  gazed  at  it  long.  The  tranquil 
giant  was  motionless  and  silent,  and  the  mystery  of 
its  peaceful  life  gave  rise  to  deep  meditation  on  the 
part  of  the  man  who  was  about  to  enter  upon  a 
new  phase  of  his  destiny. 

It  was  thus  M.  Bergeret  learned  that  he  loved  his 
mother  soil  and  the  town  where  he  had  suffered 
tribulation  and  tasted  quiet  happiness. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

ONSEIGNEUR  GUITREL,  Bishop 
of  Tourcoing,  addressed  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Republic  the  following 
letter,  the  text  of  which  was  pub- 
lished ill  extenso  by  the  Semaine 
religieuse,  the  Verite,  the  Etendard,  the  Etudes 
serieuses^  and  several  other  diocesan  papers : 

"  Monsieur  le  President, 
"  Before  bringing  to  your  notice  several  just  causes 
for  complaint  and  divers  claims  which  are  only  too 
well  founded,  allow  me  for  one  short  instant  to  enjoy 
the  keen  delight  of  feeling  that  I  am  in  perfect  accord 
with  you  on  a  point  which  must  affect  us  both ;  allow 
me,  realizing  as  I  do  the  feelings  that  must  have 
swayed  you  during  these  long  days  of  trial  and  of 
consolation,  to  join  with  you  in  an  outburst  of 
patriotic  gratitude.  Oh,  how  your  generous  soul 
must  have  suffered  when  you  saw  that  handful 
of  misguided  men  cast  insult  at  the  Army  under 
the  pretext  of  defending  justice  and  truth,  as 
though  justice  and  truth  could  exist  in  opposition 

294 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  295 

to  social  order  and  the  hierarchy  of  power  estab- 
lished by  God  Himself  upon  this  earth  !  And 
how  that  heart  of  yours  must  have  rejoiced  at 
the  sight  of  the  whole  nation,  without  exception 
of  party,  rising  as  one  man  to  acclaim  our  brave 
Army,  the  Army  of  Clovis,  Charlemagne,  and 
St.  Louis,  of  Godefroy  de  Bouillon,  Jeanne  d'Arc 
and  Bayard ;  to  embrace  her  cause  and  avenge  her 
wrongs.  Oh,  with  what  satisfaction  must  you  have 
witnessed  the  watchful  wisdom  of  the  nation  as  it 
frustrated  the  devices  of  the  proud  and  the  evil-doer  ! 
"  Certainly  one  cannot  deny  that  the  honour  of 
such  praiseworthy  conduct  is  due  to  France  as  a 
whole.  But  you  are  too  clear-sighted,  M.  le 
President,  not  to  have  recognized  the  Church  and 
her  faithful  members  in  the  van  of  the  supporters 
of  law  and  authority.  They  were  in  the  front 
rank  of  the  battle,  saluting  with  confidence  and 
respect  the  Army  and  her  chiefs.  And  was  it  not 
the  right  place  for  the  servants  of  Him  Who  has 
called  Himself  the  God  of  Armies,  and  Who,  to 
use  the  words  of  Bossuet,  has  sanctified  them  in 
calling  Himself  by  that  name  ?  Thus  you  will 
always  find  in  us  the  surest  upholders  of  law  and 
order,  and  the  obedience  which  we  have  not  refused 
even  to  princes  that  persecuted  us  will  never  tire. 
In  return  for  this  may  your  Government  ever  look 
peacefully  upon  us,  and  so  make  our  obedience  a 


296  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

joy  !  Our  hearts  must  exult  at  sight  of  the  warUke 
array  which  makes  us  feared  by  other  nations,  and 
at  sight  of  you  yourself  in  your  place  of  honour, 
surrounded  by  your  brilliant  staff,  like  King  Saul, 
that  great  and  courageous  man  who  always  attached 
the  bravest  warriors  to  his  person.  Nam  quem- 
cumque  viderat  Saul  virum  fortem  et  aptum  ad 
prcelmm,  sociahat  eum  sihi  (i  Kings  xiv.  52). 

"  Oh,  would  that  I  could  end  this  letter  as  I  have 
commenced  it,  with  words  of  joy  and  gladness,  and 
how  happy  should  I  be,  M.  le  President,  if  I  could 
associate  your  venerated  name  with  the  declaration 
of  peace  in  the  Church  as  I  have  associated  it  with 
the  victories  gained  before  our  eyes  by  the  spirit 
of  authority  over  the  spirit  of  discord.  But,  alas, 
it  cannot  be  !  I  must  bring  to  your  notice  a  subject 
of  great  sorrov/ ;  must  afflict  your  soul  by  the 
spectacle  of  a  great  grief.  I  shall  accomplish 
an  irresistible  duty  in  bringing  your  mind  to  bear 
upon  an  open  and  bleeding  wound  which  must  be 
healed.  It  is  to  my  interest  to  tell  you  certain 
painful  truths,  and  to  your  interest  to  listen.  My 
pastoral  duty  compels  me  to  speak.  Placed  by  the 
grace  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  upon  the  See  of  the 
Blessed  Saint  Loup,  successor  as  I  am  of  so  many 
holy  apostles  and  vigilant  pastors,  should  I  be  the 
legitimate  heir  of  their  devoted  labours  if  I  had 
not  the  courage   to   continue  them  ?     Alii  lahora- 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  297 

verunt,  et  vos  in  labores  eorum  introistis  (Ecc.  viii.  9). 
It  is  therefore  fitting  that  my  feeble  voice  should 
uplift  itself  until  it  reach  your  ears.  It  is  also  fitting 
that  you  lend  an  attentive  ear  to  my  words,  for  the 
subject  I  am  about  to  discuss  is  worthy  the  thought 
of  a  ruler.  Princeps  vero  ea^  qua  digna  sunt  principe, 
cogitabit  (Is.  xxxii.). 

"  But  how  can  I  broach  the  subject  without 
immediately  feeling  myself  overcome  by  over- 
whelming grief  ?  Hov/  can  I,  without  weeping, 
point  out  to  you  the  state  of  the  religious  whose 
spiritual  head  I  am  ?  For  it  is  of  them  I  would 
speak,  M.  le  President.  As  I  entered  my  diocese, 
how  heart-rending  were  the  sights  that  met  my  gaze 
on  all  sides.  In  the  sacred  buildings  consecrated  to 
the  education  of  children,  the  cure  of  the  sick,  and 
the  care  of  the  aged,  the  instruction  of  our  priests 
and  the  contemplation  of  the  divine  mysteries,  I 
found  nothing  but  anxious  faces  and  sad  looks. 
There,  where  the  joy  of  innocence  and  the  quietude 
of  labour  formerly  reigned,  a  dark  anxiety  has 
settled.  Sighs  go  up  to  heaven,  and  from  all  lips 
the  same  cry  of  anguish,  '  Who  will  care  for  our 
sick  and  aged  ?  What  will  become  of  our  little 
children  ?  Where  shall  we  retire  to  pray  ? '  These 
vv'ere  the  words  that  greeted  the  shepherd  of  the 
diocese  of  Tourcoing,  such  were  the  words  of  the 
monks  and  nuns  who  knelt  at  his  feet  and  kissed 


298  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

his  hands,  for  they  have  been  robbed  of  that  which 
is  theirs  by  right,  of  that  which  is  also  the  right  of 
our  poor,  our  widows  and  orphans,  the  bread  of  our 
clergy,  and  the  viaticum  of  our  missionaries.  Thus, 
at  the  moment  of  total  ruin,  our  monks  and  nuns 
bewailed  their  fate  while  they  waited  for  the  tax- 
collectors  to  outrage  the  sanctuary  of  our  cloistered 
virgins,  and  even  to  seize  the  sacred  vessels  on  the 
altar. 

"  This,  then,  is  the  state  to  which  our  religious 
communities  are  reduced  by  the  enforcement  of  the 
different  taxation  laws  to  which  I  have  referred,  if 
such  mad  and  criminal  enactments  can  be  called  laws. 
If  you  will  but  examine  the  position  in  which  our  re- 
ligious orders  are  placed  by  these  spoliative  measures, 
dignified  by  the  name  of  laws,  the  expressions  of 
which  I  make  use  will  not  appear  to  you  excessive, 
and  a  moment's  attention  on  your  part  will  make 
you  share  my  feelings.  Having  regard  to  the  fact 
that  religious  bodies  are  subject  to  the  general 
taxation,  it  is  iniquitous  to  force  further  taxes  upon 
them  ;  that  will  at  once  strike  you  as  an  injustice, 
and  I  can  point  out  others  equally  unjust.  But  as 
regards  this  thing  in  particular,  M.  le  President, 
allow  me  to  protest  both  firmly  and  respectfully. 
I  have  not  sufficient  authority  to  speak  in  the  name 
of  the  entire  Church,  but  I  am  sure  that  I  do  not 
stray  from  the  right  path  when   I  declare  as  an 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  299 

essential  principle  of  justice  that  the  State  has  no 
right  to  impose  burdens  upon  the  Church.  The 
Church  pays  what  is  demanded  of  her,  she  pays  as 
an  act  of  grace,  but  she  is  under  no  obligation  to  do 
so.  Her  ancient  exemption  from  taxation  proceeded 
from  her  sovereignty,  for  the  sovereign  pays  no 
tribute.  She  can  always  enter  a  claim  to  those  ancient 
rights  when  and  where  it  suits  her  convenience  ; 
she  can  no  more  renounce  her  just  claims  than  she 
can  renounce  her  duties  and  sovereign  privileges, 
and,  as  matters  are,  she  gives  proof  of  the  most 
admirable  powers  of  renunciation.  That  is  all. 
Having  stated  my  objections,  I  will  now  proceed 
with  my  evidence. 

"  The  religious  bodies  are  subject  to  the  following 
duties : 

"  Firstly,  general  taxation,  as  I  have  just  stated. 

"  Secondly,  taxes  on  inalienable  property. 

"  Thirdly,  a  tax  of  four  per  cent  on  income  (Acts 
of  1880  and  1884). 

"  Fourthly,  liability  under  the  '  droit  d'accroisse- 
ment,'  the  monstrous  effects  of  which  are  supposed 
to  have  been  modified  by  what  is  called  the  '  droit 
d'abonnement,'  by  which  the  Government  annually 
deducts  from  the  estimated  portion  of  deceased 
members  the  sum  of  eleven  francs  twenty-five  per 
cent,  including  the  decimes.  It  is  true  that,  by  a 
mock  kindness  which  is  in  reality  merely  a  rcfine- 
u 


300  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

ment  of  perfidy  and  injustice,  the  law  allows  the 
charitable  and  educational  institutions  to  be  relieved 
of  this  charge,  on  account  of  their  utility,  as  though 
the  houses  where  our  holy  women  pray  God  to 
pardon  the  crimes  of  France  and  to  enlighten  her 
blinded  rulers  were  not  as  useful,  more  useful  even, 
than  schools  and  hospitals  ! 

"  But  it  was  necessary  to  disunite  the  common 
interests,  and  in  order  to  do  so  differential  treatment 
had  to  be  meted  out.  The  idea  was  to  disintegrate 
and  paralyse  resistance  ;  this  again  v/as  the  idea 
that  actuated  the  Government  when  they  fixed  the 
tax  of  30  per  cent  for  recognized  religious  institu- 
tions, and  at  40  per  cent  for  the  unrecognized, 
payable  annually,  on  the  value  of  property  both 
real  and  personal,  so  that  the  latter,  who  are  not 
permitted  to  hold  property,  are  judged  liable  to  pay, 
and  to  pay  even  more  than  the  others. 

"  To  sum  up,  for  the  further  burden  of  our 
religious  bodies  to  the  common  taxes  are  added  the 
tax  on  inalienable  property,  the  income  tax  of  4  per 
cent,  and  the  so-called  increment  duties,  which  are 
not  modified  but  accentuated  by  what  is  called  the 
'  droit  d'abonnement '  or  subscription  duty.  Is  this 
endurable  ?  Is  it  possible  to  find  in  the  whole  world 
another  such  abominable  example  of  spoliation  ? 
No,  you  must  admit,  M.  le  President,  that  it  is  not. 

"  And  when  the  religious  orders  of  my  diocese 


THE  AMETHYST  RING  301 

asked  me  what  they  were  to  do,  could  I  give  them 
any  other  reply  than  the  following :  '  Resist  the 
law  !  It  is  your  right  and  duty  to  oppose  injustice  ! 
Resist  the  law !  Say  to  them,  "  We  cannot  do  it. 
Non  possumus.^^  ' 

"  They  are  resolved  so  to  do,  M.  le  President, 
and  all  our  religious  bodies,  recognized  or  un- 
recognized, teaching,  charitable  or  cloistered,  des- 
tined to  foreign  missions  or  to  lives  of  monastic 
retreat,  are  agreed,  in  spite  of  the  inequality  with 
which  they  are  assessed,  upon  a  stubborn  resistance. 
They  have  realized  that  the  different  forms  of 
treatment  meted  out  to  them  by  your  so-called  laws 
are  uniformly  iniquitous,  and  that  it  behoves  them 
to  join  together  in  a  common  defence.  Their 
resolve  is  unshakable.  After  having  paved  the 
way  to  it,  I  support  their  resolution,  and  in  so 
doing  feel  assured  that  I  am  not  failing  in  the 
obedience  I  owe  to  authority  and  to  the  law,  and 
which  I  whole-heartedly  render  to  you  both  as  a 
matter  of  conscience  and  religion.  I  feel  sure  that 
I  am  not  misjudging  your  power,  which  can  only  be 
exercised  for  the  maintenance  of  justice.  Ecce  in 
justitia  regnabit  rex  (Paralip.  xxii.  22). 

"  In  his  pastoral  letter  Diuturnum  illud  His  Holi- 
ness Leo  XIII  has  expressly  declared  that  the  faith- 
ful may  dispense  with  obedience  to  civil  power  if 
the  latter  issue  orders  that  openly  disregard  natural 


302  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

and  divine  rights.  '  If  a  man,'  he  has  said  in  this 
admirable  letter,  '  finds  himself  forced  to  infringe 
either  the  law  of  God  or  the  law  of  man,  he  should 
follow  the  precepts  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  reply  like 
the  apostles,  "  It  is  better  to  obey  God  than  man." 
To  act  thus  is  not  to  merit  the  reproach  of  dis- 
obedience, for  as  soon  as  the  will  of  a  ruler  is  in 
opposition  to  the  will  and  law  of  God  he  exceeds 
his  power,  justice  is  corrupted,  and  henceforth  his 
authority  is  impotent  because,  in  so  far  as  it  is  unjust, 
it  ceases  to  exist.' 

"Believe  me  it  is  not  without  deep  and  pro- 
tracted meditation  that  I  have  encouraged  the 
religious  bodies  under  my  control  to  make  the 
necessary  resistance.  I  have  weighed  the  temporal 
loss  that  may,  perhaps,  result,  and  such  con- 
sideration has  not  stopped  me.  When  we  reply 
to  your  tax-gatherers,  '  Non  possumus,'  you  will 
attempt  to  overcome  our  resistance  by  force. 
But  how  will  you  achieve  your  end  ?  Will  you 
lay  hands  upon  our  recognized  bodies  ?  Dare 
you  ?  Upon  our  non-recognized  bodies  ?  Can  you  ? 
Will  you  show  a  pitiful  courage  and  sell  our  goods 
and  the  objects  dedicated  to  divine  worship?  And 
if  it  is  indeed  true  that  neither  the  poverty  of  the 
former  nor  the  sacred  nature  of  the  latter  will 
preserve  them  from  your  rapacity,  you  must  learn, 
and  the  wives  and  children  of  those  who  aid  and 


THE   AMETHYST  RING  303 

abet  70U  must  learn,  that  those  who  enter  upon 
such  a  course  run  the  risk  of  excommunication, 
the  terrible  effects  of  which  strike  fear  into  even 
the  most  hardened  sinners.  And  all  those  who 
consent  to  buy  anything  proceeding  from  any  such 
unlawful  sale  expose  themselves  to  the  same  penalty. 

"  And  if  we  are  robbed  of  our  belongings,  hunted 
from  our  dwellings,  the  injury  will  not  be  to  us,  but 
to  you,  who  will  be  covered  with  the  shame  of  un- 
precedented scandal.  You  can  retaliate  most 
cruelly  upon  us,  but  no  threat  can  frighten 
us ;  we  fear  neither  prison  nor  chains.  The 
manacled  hands  of  priests  and  confessors  have 
delivered  the  Church  ere  now.  Come  what  may, 
we  shall  pay  nothing,  we  may  not,  we  cannot.  Non 
possumus. 

"  Before  arriving  at  such  an  extremity  I  thought 
it  only  right,  M.  le  President,  to  place  the  matter 
before  you,  in  the  hope  that  you  would  inquire  into 
it  with  the  whole-hearted  firmness  God  bestows 
upon  the  rulers  who  place  their  trust  in  Him.  May 
you,  with  His  help,  find  a  remedy  for  the  crying 
evils  I  have  placed  before  you.  God  grant,  M.  le 
President,  God  grant  that,  when  you  have  examined 
the  injustice  of  the  taxation  as  regards  our  religious 
bodies,  you  may  be  guided  less  by  your  counsellors 
than  by  your  own  sense  of  justice.  For,  if  the 
chief  may   take  counsel  of   others,   it  is  his   own 


304  THE  AMETHYST  RING 

counsel  he  should  follow.  As  Solomon  has  said, 
*  Counsel  in  the  heart  of  a  man  is  like  unto  deep 
water.'  Sicut  aqua  profunda,  sic  consilium  in  corde 
viri  (Prov.  xx.  5). 

"  With  the  deepest  respect,  etc.,  I  have  the 
honour,  M.  le  President,  to  be 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  Joachim, 
"  Bishop  of  Tourcoing." 

The  letter  of  the  Bishop  of  Tourcoing  was  pub- 
lished on  January  14th. 

On  the  30th  of  the  same  month  the  Agence 
Hava  sent  the  following  communication  to  the 
papers : 

"  The  cabinet  met  yesterday  at  the  Elysee.  It 
was  decided  at  the  meeting  that  the  Minister  of 
Public  Worship  should  apply  to  the  Council  d'Etat 
for  a  writ  against  Monseigneur  Guitrel,  Bishop  of 
Tourcoing,  in  connexion  with  a  letter  addressed  by 
him  to  the  President  of  the  Republic." 


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